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jJl««jjW-"lJ
TIME TELLING through the
^ges
BY
Harry Qo ^r ear ley
Published by
for
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO. Robert H. Ingersoll & Bro. NEW YORK,
1919
PREPARED under the direction of
W^t
iirearle? S>erbite (i^rQant^ation
Copyright 191
RoBT. H. Ingersoll & Bro,
NEW YORK
Ak^
\ /
1/
JAN -2 1920
(Q)CI.A56i28 7
T Tie FACE the midst of the '^orld war^ '\vhen ordinary forms of cele-
IN
bration seemed unsuitable^ this book
was
concei'\)ed
by
Robt.
H. Ingersoll (S^ Bro., as a fitting memento ofthh 'Twentyfifth is
^Anniversary of their entrance into the
oferedas a contribution
to horological art
lication Ivas deferred until after the signing
The research l^ork for fact material Ipotedfidelity
and discrimination by
SEY Dodge, ical schools lo')x>ing
J^Jp
ypere helpfully kind to her
Tor^(^ity;
The
of the peace covenant,
Jpas
performed
Ippith
de-
Katherine Morris-
:
^NYw
The fol-
Yorh^ T'ublic J^brary,
(Congressional ^brary, JVashington,
'Public J^brary,
(Circular,
J^w
D. C;
T^wark, U'^^ Jersey; The Jewelers
Torl^^Qity; Keystone 'Publishing (Company, 'Phila-
delphia, Pennsylvania;
iMr. John
J.
Bowman,
J^ancaster,
z^aj or Paul M. Chamberlain,^^/^/V^^o,
////-
Hamilton Watch Qompany, J^ancaster, Pennsylvania; cJWr.
Henry C^ty,
science. Its pub-
authorities in leading Ippatch companies.
ZS(^ark
nois;
and
'^ho consulted libraries, trade publications, horolog-
and
Pennsylvania;
^^JMrs.
and
"tvatch industry,
G. Abbott, of the Qalculagraph (Company,
and
Qredit
^N^^pp York^
others, is also
k^d^vn artist
due
ofCNVw
to z^ifCr.
Walter D. Teague,
Yorh^Qity,
'\vho
the ^pell-
acted as art editor and super-
vised the preparation of illustrations, typography and other art
and mechanical features.
The photographic compositions are the the understanding
and
y^yt> York Qty. In
W. Kent,
the art of zM'r.
result of the enthusiasm,
Lejaren
a'
Hiller,
this connection the courtesy ofiM'r.
of
Henry
Secretary of the (^Metropolitan z^^useum of zArt,
U^'^dyp
York^Qity, in permitting the use of collections of the
in the
preparation of illustrations,
is
appreciated.
Harry
*&63-
museum
C.
Brearley
Co:^cre:hCfs PAGE Foreword
ii
Man Animal and Nature's
Chapter
i,
Chapter
11,
Chapter
iii,
Chapter
iv, 'Telling
Chapter
v,
Chapter
vi,
Chapter
vii,
l^he
The Land Between
How Man Began Time hy
How Father Time
'T'ime
the Rivers
to
Pieces
.21
.
Model After Nature
the ''Water
Got his
Thief
Hour
.
36
.
.
49
.
.
59
Glass
The Clocks Which Named Themselves The Modern Clock and
1
Its Creators
.
.
.
viii, The Watch That Was Hatched From The Nuremhurg Egg
66 yy
Chapter
Chapter ix, How a Mechanical Toy Became a Time Piece
94
Scientific
106
Chapter x, The ''Worshipful Company'' and English Watchmaking 118
Chapter Chapter
xi,
What Happened in France and Switzerland
How
xii,
an American Industry Came on
Horseback
Chapter
XIII,
131
147
America Learns
to
Make
Watches.
.
Chapter xiv, Checkered History Chapter xv, "The Watch That Wound Forever'
161
176 .
.
184
Chapter xvi, "The Watch That Made The Dollar Famoiis" 196
Chapter xvii, Putting Fifty Million Watches Into 206
Service
*97e-
Chapter
XYiiiy T'he
Appendix A,
End
of the Journey.
.
.
.218
How it Works
230
Appendix B, Bibliography
235
Appendix C, American Watch Manufacturers {Chronology)
241
Appendix D, Well Known Watch
Collections.
Appendix E, Encyclopedic Dictionary
-&8^
.
.250
....
25^
7(0
TIME TELLING
THROUGH THE AGES zAn Appreciation
by
/
r
m '2
1920
TIME TELLING THROUGH THE AGES
^n
WHAT
time
we ask
is
it
thousands of
The
men and
Vv'atch
?
suspect that
V\'e little
that simple question
problem that
swer.
Frank Qrane
is
it
when
we have put
a
takes the patient labor of
many
the help of
centuries to an-
Not one
the triumph of cooperation.
man, but many men, some of them dead and gone long ago,
made
timepiece on
possible the little metal
soldier's wrist, at
the
which he glances to determine the hour
of his charge.
As
I
have read the pages of
never before team-play,
how
fascinating
From
sea-shore run cords that bind
Not
is
book
it
a beat of the bird's
I
have realized
together are
ever}" grain of
to the sun
wing
mechanism
in the
is
all
the
sand on the
and the distant
sends vibrations to the remotest mountain. pact, correlated, baffling
as
the romance of mankind's
how amazingly woven
threads of this universe.
stars.
this
this
still
forest but
What world
a
com-
a
my
For wrist,
is
little
watch, just a small silver spot upon
the child of
what remote
my
ancestors, the product of
what long and struggling evolution
It is a
!
microcosm
—
universe in miniature. Its line runs back to the huge "tur-
nip" our grandfathers carried, to the ponderous clocks of
former day
and churchtower, to the hour-glass
in the hall
in the student's laboratory, to the sun-dial in the garden,
on back to the moving shadow of the tree or rock that told the cave-man the hour set to meet his
runs up to the circling sun,
Its line
timepiece,
whose punctual
some slowly moving
moon, that
Tennyson plucked and musing upon understand that
to
is
me
I
and greatest
and setting marked life;
and to the
in orderly
it
in his
stars,
some
change; and to the
is
from the crannied wall,"
hand, thought that
if
he could
bloom, he would understand "what
little
look at
pact mechanism
is."
my
Very much the same idea comes
watch.
To comprehend
to "grasp the
that com-
scheme of things entire"
—history, and the dreams of men, evolution with ward
off into
line.
*'the flower
and what man as
first
face his foe.
in regular alternation swelled to full brightness
and shrank to a crescent
God
rise
human
pages the brief story of fixt,
mate or
its
up-
urge, the intricacies of inathematics, the mysteries
of astronomy, and the ordered interplay of
all
the wide
labors of men.
For
this "Ingersoll"
upon
my
wrist
is
the product of a
factory, of a system. I can shut
of workers,
men and women,
my eyes
and
leaving their
ing toward the factory gates, see
see long lines
homes and wind-
them bending over
their
benches and operating their machines, see the watches
packed
hauled upon trains and steamships to
in their cases,
the four ends of the earth, then distributed and displayed
by the
dealers, at last
sion of the
coming into personal use and posses-
myriad people.
You who
love the strange
and unusual
may
well peruse
these pages, for they unfold the curious tale of cumulative
much more marvelous
invention, a
tale or the doings of antique kings.
story than any fairy
The Thousand and One
Tales of the Arabian Nights are not more interesting than this
account of
how
the stars and the passing hours were
through long ages of experiment finally confined into a tiny silver casket,
and given, not to some prince
sum, but to Everyman and In every arises,
field
some King
of
for a fabulous
for a dollar.
human endeavor some
—not the hereditary
ruler
salient figure
who comes
to
prominence by chance, because "his blood has crept through scoundrels since the flood," but the Genius, the one specially Endowed by the Creator, the one Carlyle calls "the king-man, that
is
whom
the can-ing, cun-ning
man, the man who can," the one who Accomplishes.
And royal.
in the
realm of Watches the
name
of Ingersoll
is
For the Inger$olls have made the astronomer's
complicated instrument the daily tool of the plow-boy,
ornament and costly play-
and taken from queens
their
thing and put
pocket of
it
in the
all
the workers of the
world.
But the their time
Ingersolls themselves
were but the product of
and environment. They,
are but bubbles
as well as their watch,
upon the mighty wave of evolutionary
progress. For every great
man
is
the child of the marriage
of Native Genius and Opportunity. Lincoln the right
man
but set
in the right place.
was not only
Cromwell and
Charlemagne, as well as Edison, Stevenson and Watt, were not only equipped by nature for their important tasks, but the age in
which they lived was just ready
them. For each man's success,
Even of Christ time, and His
it is
said that
all
for
humanity co-works.
He came
at His appointed
own phrase was "Mine hour is come."
Also at the hour marked for them on the Calendar of
Destiny came the Ingersolls.
We
trace here the long un-
dulating line of the genesis of the timepiece.
From moving
shadow, down through the sun-dial, the clepsydra or water-thief, the sand-glass, the discovery of the law of the
pendulum, the construction of the
first
rude clock-mech-
anism, the secret of the "escapement," the hatching of the
"Nuremburg
egg," the
making of a
useful timepiece out of
a mechanical toy and a scientific curiosity, the growth of
watchmaking
in
France, Switzerland and England, the
advent of Yankee ingenuity to Ingersoll
in the business, until
who appHed Democracy
we come
to the industry
and
conjoined the heritage of the ages with the spirit of the
Twentieth Century, giving to the miUions what had been the prize of the few, and, ity
by combining organizing
abil-
with craftsmanship, adding to the comfort and
ciency of the race
by placing a
effi-
reliable timepiece in the
hand of every worker. Perhaps the most fascinating part of ever,
is
the commercial portion of
brains and energy and vision to
want
it,
as
Selling risks of
it is
sell
it.
this story,
how-
It takes as
much
make
people
a thing, to
does to manufacture the thing
itself.
the great American game. It combines the
chance and the excitements of adventure with the
ingenuity of making plans and devising systems.
American throws himself into
it
The
adult
with the same abandon a
child throws himself into his play.
The American has been accused
of being
money-mad, a
worshiper of the almighty dollar. This charge arises from a superficial view of his nature.
wants,
it is
It
is
not the dollar that he works
not for.
money The
that he
thing that
the American desires in his heart more than anything else is
Achievement.
He
values dollars only as they connote
Achievement. In America the honor goes to the largely because in the
man who makes money
making of that money
it
was neces-
sary for him to display those qualities of resourcefulness
and energy which we admire. Reading such a book fail
as this, the
to be impressed that for
the door of opportunity
is
him
American boy cannot
also the roads are open,
unlocked. His success in
depends not upon fear and favor, but upon
his
own
life
ability
in industry.
This book
is
a record of something done. It
of a great achievement. It
termined American young
tells
men
is
the story
how ambitious and
de-
applied themselves to one
problem of their age, took at the flood that
tide
which
bears on to fortune, became successful manufacturers and
merchants, gave employment to thousands of self-respecting
workmen and
applied a useful and necessary article of
personal use to millions of their fellow beings.
-&8^
ILL usriijrio^j^s TO FACE PAGE
The
spirit of
Time
.
The Cave Man and
the
Time TelHng
"Land Between the Rivers"
The
First
in the
Moving Shadow
Types of the
.
or
Water Clock
Earliest
Time
Tellers
.
.
.
Pendulum
.64 .
Time
88 Piece
The "Nuremburg Egg," the
96
First Real
Watch
.
.
Forms of the Watch
First
120
—In Spite of His Two Watches
.
.
.
.128
Seventeenth Century Watches
The Swiss ''Manufacturer" and
The
First
104 112
Sixteenth Century Watches
Late
72 80
Watch
First Pocket
32
56
Piece of the Middle Ages
Ancestors of the
i6
40
Galileo Discovering the Principle of the
The
.
Recorded Sun Dial
The Clepsydra,
A Time
.
.
136 a Craftsman
.
.
Yankee Clock Maker
"Grandfather's Clocks".
.
144 152
.
.
.
.
.160
Eighteenth Century Watches
168
"Quantity Production"
176
A
in 1850
Glimpse of a Giant Industry
.
...
.
.
200
Twentieth Century Watches
208
Time
Telling in the
216
Time
Pieces Vital to Industry
Dark
*&9 -CU
224
FORSWOT^ WAS a moonless night in No
IT
in
Man's Land.
A man
khaki stood silently waiting in a frontline trench.
In the darkness, his eyes were drawn, fascinated, to the luminous figures on the watch-dial at his wrist. splinter of pale light,
rested
upon the
A
which he knew to be the hour-hand,
figure 11.
A
somewhat longer
splinter
crept steadily from the figure 12.
*Tast eleven," he whispered to himself. "Less than
twenty minutes now."
To
the right and to the
left
of him, he,
now and
then,
could see his waiting comrades in the blackness of the trench, their outlines vaguely appearing
with the intermittent
flares
and disappearing
of distant star-shells.
He knew
that they, too, were intent upon tiny figures in small luminous circles and upon the steady, relentless progress of
other gleaming minute-hands which
unison with the one upon his
own
moved
wrist.
in absolute
He knew,
also,
that far in the rear, clustered about their guns, were other
comrades tensely counting
At twenty minutes past
off
the passing minutes.
eleven, the artillery
ment would begin and would continue night.
Then would come
the barrage
bombard-
until exactly
mid-
—the protecting cur-
tain of bursting shells behind which the khaki-clad figure
!
Time and
companions would advance upon the enemy's
his
trenches
How
Telling Through the Ages
—perhaps
also
strangely silent
of the last few days ble of distant
upon it
eternity.
seemed
after the crashing chaos
There were moments when the rum-
!
guns almost died away, and he could hear
the faint ticking of his timepiece or a whispered
He
of the darkness near at hand. lull
word out
likened the silence to the
before a storm.
Five minutes thus went by In another fifteen minutes, the fury of the bombard-
ment would begin; furious
it
would doubtless draw an equally
bombardment from the enemy's guns.
At twelve-ten
plus forty-five seconds, he
and
his platoon
were to "go over the top" and plunge into the inferno of
No Man's Land. That was the moment set for the advance
—the
moment when
the barrage would
lift
and move
forward.
The
slender
hand on the glowing
dial stole steadily
on-
ward. It was ten minutes after now.
Ten minutes
after eleven
—
^just
one hour plus forty-five
seconds to wait His thoughts flew back to his !
home
in the
great city beyond the sea.
Ten minutes minutes after
—^why that would be only ten
after eleven six in
New
York!
How
plainly he could
picture the familiar scenes of rushing, bustling there!
Crowds were now pouring
into the
life
back
subways and
Foreword surface cars or climbing to the level of the *'L's." This
the third
—the
latest
homeward wave. The
was
five o'clock
people had, for the most part, already reached their homes
and were thinking about
their dinner; the five-thirties
were well upon their way.
How
the millions of his native city and of other cities
and towns, and even of the country
upon schedule Clocks and watches
told
!
up,
when
districts, all
moved
them when
to get
to eat their breakfasts, when to catch their trains,
reach their work, eat their lunches, and return to their
homes. Newspapers came out at certain hours; mails were delivered at definite tories all
What
moments;
began their work at
mills
and
fac-
specified times.
a tremendous activity there was, back there in
America, and
how smoothly
it all
ran
work! Why, you might almost say
The
and
stores
—smooth as clock-
it
ran by clock-work!
millions of watches in millions of pockets, the millions
of clocks on millions of walls,
—
^these
modern
all
running steadily together
were what kept the complicated machinery of life
from getting tangled and confused.
Yes; but what did people do before they had such timepieces.?
Back
in the
very beginning, before they had in-
vented or manufactured anything the
caveman
—even
method of telling
A bright star
—
far
back
in the
days of
those people must have had some
time.
drew above the shadowy outline of a
hill.
'J'itne
At
first
the
star-shell;
'Telling
Through
the
Ages
man in khaki thought that it might be
but no,
it
was too steady and too
a distant
still.
Ah
yes,
—and the
the stars were there, even in the very beginning
moon and
the sun, they were as regular then as now; per-
haps these were the timepieces of his
A
earliest ancestors.
slight rustle of anticipation stirred
through the wait-
ing line and his thoughts flashed back to the present. His eyes fixed themselves again on the ghostly splinters of light at his wrist.
The
long hand had almost reached the figure 4
—the moment when the bombardment would begin. He and comrades braced themselves — and the night his
was shattered by the crash of artillery.
*ei4B-
riM£ rELLIth(G TH%OUgH TH£ -utgES
CHAPTER ONE "The ^J)(Can
Animal and J\(ature^s "Timepieces
THE
story of the watch that
you hold
in
your hand
to-day began countless centuries ago, and long as the history of the
earliest ancestors, living in caves,
sion of
day and
night,
regularly in length night, then
was the
human
race.
is
When
as
our
noted the regular succes-
and saw how the shadows changed
and direction as day grew on toward first, faint,
feeble
germ of the beginning
of time-reckoning and time-measurement. very, very young, so far as
The world was
man was concerned, when there
occurred some such scene as this It is early
bathed
morning.
The
in the golden glow of
soft,
red sandstone
cliffs
are
dawn. As the great sun climbs
higher in the eastern sk}^ the sharply outlined shadow of the opposite
cliff
descends slowly along the western wall
of the narrow canyon.
A
opening, half-way up the
shaggy head appears from an cliff,
and
is
followed
tesque, stooping figure of a long-armed
nearly naked, save for a girdle of skins.
by the
gro-
man, hairy and
He grasps
a short,
thick stick, to one end of which a sharpened stone has been
bound by many
crossing thongs, and, without a word, he
— 'Time Telling Through the Ages
makes
his
way down among
the bushes and stones toward
the bed of the creek.
Another head appears at the same opening in the that of a brown-skinned flat nose,
and tangled
woman
hair.
cUff
with high cheek-bones, a
She shouts after the retreating
form of the man, and he stops, and turns abruptly. Then he points to the edge of the
shadow
far
above
his,
and, with a
sweeping gesture, indicates a large angular rock lying in the bed of the stream near by. Apparently understanding the
woman
nods and the
man
soon disappears into the
brush.
The forenoon wears down
along,
and the
line of
the face of the canyon wall until
shadow creeps
it
falls
at last
across the angular rock against which the dashing waters
of the stream are breaking.
The woman who has been
moving about near the cave opening begins to look pectant and to cast quick glances up and
ex-
down the canyon.
Presently the rattle of stones caught her ear and she sees the long-armed
He
still
man
picking his
way down
carries his stone-headed club in
from the other there swings by the furry animal.
Her eyes
tail
flash hungrily,
a steep
trail.
one hand, while
the body of a small,
and she shows her
strong, white teeth in a grin of anticipation.
Perhaps this little
it
has not been hard to follow the meaning of
drama of primitive human need. Our own needs
are not so very different, even in this day, although our
The Cave Man and the Moving Shadov^ "77/ be back when the shadow touches that
stone.'' It
was by
such crude expedients that our primitive ancestors timed their engagements.
—
.
Time .
..,,,
s his
Telling Through the Ages
way down amo"
>
stones toward
l^n Jif>^ j)nd
^ '»•
the bed of the creek.
Another head appears at the same opening that of a brown-skinned flat nose,
and tangled
woman with
hair.
in the diff
high cheek-bones, a
She shouts after the retreating
form of the man, and he stops, and turns abruptly. Then he points to the edge of the
shadow
far
above
his,
and, with a
sweeping gesture, indicates a large angular rock lying in the bed of the stream near by. Apparently understanding
the
woman
n.-vk
;>r:<»
fh,-
soon
r^Tin
<11^:>i
;..--
rx
into the
brush
The forenoon wears
down
along,
and the line of shadow creeps
the face of the canyon wail until
across the angular rock against
of the stream are breaking.
it
falls
at last
which the dashing waters
The woman who has been
moving about near the cave opening begins to look expectant and to cast quick glances up and
down the canyon.
Presently the rattle of stones caught her ear and she sees
the long-armed
He
still
man
picking his
way down
carries his stone-headed club in
from the other there swings by the furry animal.
Her eyes
tail
flash hungrily,
a steep
trail.
one hand, while
the body of a small,
and
sb^
\\<
her
strong, white teeth in a grin of anticipation.
Perhaps this little
it
has not been hard to follow the meaning of
drama of primitive human need. Our own needs
arp ^n^ sn very different,
even in this day, although our
woqahS omivoM 3HT ctvi/'WaM 3va3 3hT
''^?^I3^€^^^»H^^»
«i
t
V
>.
-
,M»V-,-
'The
Man
Animal and Nature
s
Timepieces
manners and methods have somewhat changed
since the
time of the caveman. Like ourselves, this savage pair
awoke with sharpened
appetite, but,
unhke
ourselves,
they had neither pantry nor grocery store to supply them. Their meal-to-be, which was looking for
its
own
breakfast
the rocks and trees, must be found and killed for
among
the superior needs of mankind, and the hungry called after her
mate
in order to learn
woman had
when he expected
to
return.
No
timepieces were available, but that great timepiece
of nature, the sun, by which
we
still
test the
accuracy of
our clocks and watches, and a shadow falling upon a certain stone, served the need of this primitive cave-dweller in
making and keeping an appointment.
^ The sun has Time.
He
been, from the earliest days, the master of
answered the caveman's purpose very
rising of the
sun meant that
setting brought darkness
it
The
to get up; his
and the time to go to
was a simple system, but, then, simple
was time
well.
sleep. It
society in those days
was
—and strenuous.
For example,
it
was necessary to procure a new supply
of food nearly every day, as prehistoric preserving methods. Procuring food
man knew little of
was not so easy as one
might think. It meant long and crafty hunts
for
game, and
journeys in search of fruits and nuts. All this required daylight.
By
night-time the caveman was ready enough to
'Time Telling Through the Ages
crawl into his rock-home and sleep until the sun and his
clamoring appetite called him forth once more. In life
was very like that of the beasts and the birds.
But, of course, he was a man, after a
human
forehead,
all.
his sloping
and he could not stop progressing.
—a long while, probably—
his fellows gathered together into tribes
the possession of hunting-grounds or
amiable
This means that
was slowly developing behind
brain
After a while
it,
fact, his
human
fashion. Thus, society
^we find
and
what
him and
fighting over
not, after the
was born, and with
organization. Tribal warfare implied working together;
working together required planning ahead and making appointments; making appointments demanded the making of
them by something
—by some kind of a timepiece that
could indicate more than a single day^ since the daily posi-
and shadows was now no longer
tion of light
Man looked
to the sky again
Next to the
sun, the
sufficient.
and found such a timepiece.
moon is
the most conspicuous of the
heavenly objects. Its name means "the Measurer of Time."
As our
first
ancestors perceived, the
moon seemed
to have
the strange property of changing shape; sometimes
a brilliant disk; sometimes a crescent; sometimes to appear at
again
all.
—always
it
it
was
failed
These changes occurred over and over
in the
same
order,
and the same number of
days apart. What, then, could be more convenient than for the
men
inhabiting neighboring valleys to agree to meet at
'The
Man Animal
and Nature
s
Timepieces
a certain spot, with arms and with several days* provisions, at the time of the next full
moon
?
—moonlight being also
propitious for a night attack.
For
this
and other reasons, the moon was added to the
human
sun as a
mental resources ever, that he
and
timepiece, he
was
man began
to
able to plan ahead.
show
his
Note, how-
was not concerned with measuring the pas-
sage of time, but merely with fixing
upon a future date;
it
was not a question of how long but ofwhe-n. This presumptuous, two-legged fighting animal, from
whom we still
are descended, and.
retain,
improve
began to enlarge
many
of whose instincts
his warfare,
For the sake of
his organization.
we
and thereby to his
own
safety,
he learned to combine with his fellows, finding strength in
numbers,
like the
wolves in the pack;
bees, finding in the
combined
efforts of
or, like
many
ants and
a means of
gaining for each individual more food and better shelter
than he could win for himself alone.
For example,
it
was
possible that a neighboring tribe,
instead of waiting to be attacked,
upon
its
own
was planning an attack
account. It would not do to be surprised at
night. Sentries
must be established to keep watch while
others slept, and to
waken
Our very word "watch"
their
is
comrades in case of need.
derived from the old Anglo-
Saxon word "waeccan," meaning "wake." And yet people
who
tried to
watch
for long at a stretch
would be apt to
^ime doze.
'Telling
They must be
Through
Ages
the
relieved at regular times;
matter of necessity, but
how
it
was a
could one measure time at
night ?
Where man has been confronted with a he has generally found the stars gave positions
him a
its solution.
clue. If the
pressing problem
Probably in this case sky were
clear, their
would help to divide the night into "watches" of
convenient length.
Thus did
primitive
man
longer a mere animal, he
begin to study the skies.
No
was beginning, quite uncon-
sciously, to give indications of
becoming a student.
*&20S*
CHAPTER TWO T'he
N^OW
that
Jl^nd "Between the levers we must jump over all
ages so vast in duration
of our recorded history
is
by comparison,
the merest fragment of time. During the prehistoric period, ings,
known
by
to us only
certain bones, draw-
and traces of tombs and dwellings, and by a few rude
implements, weapons, and ornaments, the
human
ing in the
we must think of
family as developing very, very slowly
dawn
of civilization while
it
ate
—
and
^grop-
slept,
hunted, and fought, and, gradually spread over various regions of the earth. It fire
was
in this interval, also, that
and the fashioning of various
place to the spear, the knife,
that were
made
at
first
learned to
work the
learned the use of
tools.
His club gave
and the arrow-head weapons
by chipping flakes of flint to a sharp
edge. Then, as his knowledge
and
man
and
skill
softer metals
his tools of bronze.
slowly increased, he
and made
his
weapons
Meanwhile, he was taught, by
observing in nature, to tame and to breed animals for his
food and use, and to plant near home what crops he wished to reap, instead of seeking state.
them where they grew
Thus, he became a herdsman and farmer.
in a wild
Time
He no
'Telling
Through
the
Ages
longer lived in caves or rude huts, but in a low,
flat-roofed house built of heavy,
hewn
of stones
rough stone, and,
into shape or of bricks
baked
later,
in the burning
sunshine. Stone and clay carved or molded into images,
and the colored earth, smeared into designs upon gave him the beginnings of
art.
And from drawing
pictures of simple objects, as a child begins to
before knowing
came
what
it
means to
at last to the greatest
Through panding
all this
affairs
—
^the
rude
draw even
write, primitive
power of all
man
age
his walls,
man
art of writing.
continued to regulate his ex-
—the sun, the
by the timepieces of the sky
moon, and the
stars.
He
divided time roughly into days
and parts of days, into nights and watches of the night, into
moons and seasons
—determining the
latter
probably
by the migration of birds, the budding of trees and flowers, the falling of leaves and other happenings in nature.
never guessing
would be
how
in the
But
greatly interested future generations
way he
records of his activities
the merest accident.
did things, he has
left
only a few
and these have been preserved by
The
historian
and the press-agent
were the inventions of later days.
Thus we come down the ages to a date about 4000 B. C. at the
very beginning of recorded history, and to one of
the most ancient civilizations in the world region which
—that of the
we now call Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia
in southwestern Asia
lies
between the Tigris and Euphrates
^he Land Between
the Rivers
Rivers and not far from the traditional
The name by which we know
of Eden.
of the Garden
site it
comes from the
Greek, and means, "The land between the rivers" but the people who dwelt there at the time to which it
refer called
the *'Land of Shinar."
This tells
to
we
us
the region in which long afterward
is
—^Abraham
make
left his
native town,
Ur of the Chaldees,
his pioneer journey to Palestine.
where the great arose; Babylon,
cities
—so the Bible
This
is
the land
of Babylon and Nineveh afterward
where Daniel interpreted the dream of
King Nebuchadnezzar, and Nineveh, whence the Assyrians, the fierce
down
dom
like a
conquerors of the ancient world, "came
wolf on the fold" against the peaceful King-
of Judah. It
later,
is
the land where, thousands of years
the famous Arab capital of
the land of
Harun
al
Bagdad was
built;
it is
Raschid and the "Arabian Nights,"
and the land which the British
Army
conquered in a
re-
markable campaign against the Turks and Germans.
Mesopotamia romance. will, in
that
it
is
Many
a land of color, brilliant
earth. It
is
flat region,
it
and populous again,
among
the countries of the
with wide-stretching plains. For
the most part, there are no skies,
fruitful
once more be great a
wonders and
students and statesmen believe that
days to come, grow will
life,
hills
to limit the view of the
and the heavens are brilliant upon starry nights.
In this favored portion of the earth, a high civilization
1'ime T'elling 'Through the Ages
had already been developed which we have authentic
in the
very
earliest
days of
The caveman
historic record.
type had long disappeared and had been forgotten; people
were already living in well-built
cities
of brick and stone.
Their houses were low and flat-roofed, but the
cities
were
surrounded with high and massive walls to protect thern
from enemies, and here and there within rose great square Perhaps the famous
towers which were also temples.
Tower of Babel was one of these, another
name
for Babylon,
and
for Babel, of course, is
its
people are
have worshipped on the tops of towers, as
if,
by
known
to
so doing,
they could reach nearer to their gods. The ancient Chal-
deans were religious by nature, and because the skies contained the greatest things of which they knew, they identified
many
of their gods with the sun, the moon, and
the stars, and they worshipped these in their temples.
Thus, the sun was the god Shamash, the moon was Sin, Jupiter
was Marduk, Venus was
Ishtar,
Mars was Nergal,
Mercury was Neho, and Saturn was Ninib. In consequence, their priests came to give
time to a study of the movements of the priests,
who were shrewd and
much
of their
stars.
These
learned men, discovered a
great deal, but they kept their knowledge closely within
the circle of their caste. Learning was not for everyone in those days because the priests posed as magicians able to interpret dreams, to explain signs,
and to foretell the future.
'The
Land Between
the Rivers
This brought them much revenue; as prophets they were not unmindful of profits.
When we consider that these
astrologer-astronomers did
not have telescopes or our other modern instruments,
marvelous to see
how many
it is
of the laws of the heavenly
bodies they really did find out for themselves. Books could
be
filled,
with the story of their discoveries. For example,
they observed that the sun slowly changed the points at
which
it
rose
and
set.
During certain months, the place of
sunrise traveled northward, rose higher in the sky,
head.
At
this time, the
and at the same time the sun
and at noon was more nearly overdays were also longer, because the
sun was above the horizon more of the time, and then
was summer. During eled south again,
certain other months, the sun trav-
and
all
these conditions were reversed;
the days grew shorter and shorter, and is,
it
it
was winter. This
of course, exactly what the sun appears to do here and
now, and we may observe it
for ourselves.
But these Baby-
lonian priests were the
to study these
phenomena and
first
accomplish something by applying their reasoning powers to the facts that presented themselves.
They took the time
which was consumed in this motion from the furthest north to the furthest south and return, and from that worked
out their year.
In order to calculate time, they next devised the zodiac, a sort of belt encircling the heavens and showing the course
Time
Telling Through the Ages
of the sun, and the location of twelve constellations, or
groups of
stars,
through which he would be seen to pass
his light did not blot
out
theirs.
They
If
divided the region of
these twelve constellations into the same
number of equal
parts; consequently, the sun passing from
any given point
around the heavens to the same point, occupied
In so doing
an amount of time that was arbitrarily divided Into twelfths.
But they the year.
also devised another twelve-part division of
They
noticed that the
phases, from full
moon
to full
moon went through
moon
in
her
about thirty days.
So one moon, or one month, corresponded with the passage of the sun through one "sign" of the zodiac.
Our own
word "month'* might have been written "moonth," that
is
its
since
meaning. That gave them a year of twelve
months, each month having thirty days, or three hundred
and sixty days
Then from Identified
in
all.
the seven heavenly bodies which they had
with seven great gods, they got the idea of a
week of seven days, one day each god and
named
for the special
worship of
for him.
In like manner, they divided the day and the night each into twelve hours;
and the hour into sixty minutes and
these again into sixty seconds.
not a chance shot or accident;
The it
choice of "sixty"
was
carefully selected for
practical reasons since these old astronomers *&
26 B-
was
were wise
Land Between
"The
and level-headed men.
by
so
watch
many
No
the Rivers
lower number can be divided
other numbers as can sixty. Just look at your
moment and
for a
notice
the minutes, divided into fives,
how simply and fit
naturally
into place between the
figures for the hours, and, because sixty divides evenly
by fifteen and
we owe
we have quarter-hours and half-hours.
we should
Therefore,
that
thirty,
realize,
with a bit of gratitude,
these divisions of time, of which
use, to the ancient magician-priests of
dea, thousands
In doing
still
make
Babylon and Chal-
and thousands of years ago.
all this,
these early scientists developed at the
same time an elaborate system of which they pretended to destinies of
we
men born on
by
so-called '^magic"
foretell future events
certain days. This
and the
was an im-
portant part of their priestcraft, and probably
it
was not
the least profitable part. In fact, the priests called themselves magi,
meaning 'Vise men"
our word "magic"
is
in their language,
derived from "magi."
This magic, or prophetic study of the
stars,
we
call as-
it
from the true science oi astronomy.
it ail,
these priests possessed a wonderful
trology to distinguish
But mingled with
and
amount of genuine
scientific
knowledge. Their year of
three hundred and sixty days was, of course, five days too short, as
they presently found out for themselves. In
years, the difference
six
would amount to thirty days, which
was exactly the length of one of their months. So they
cor-
'Time Telling Through the Ages
rected the calendar very easily
Adar once thirteen
in six years.
by doubling the month
Thus, every sixth year contained
months instead of twelve; that was the
the leap-year principle which
we
still
accurately. It can be seen that, with
and
origin of
more
use, although
all
their superstition
their befooling of other people, the priests themselves
were by no means ignorant; they were really keen observers.
This calendar, by which we the seasons,
measure the years and
so interesting a thing that
is
to pause for a
still
moment
later development.
practically the
in
worth while
it is
our story in order to trace out
The Babylonian
its
calendar remained
same up to the time of Julius Caesar, only
a few years before the Christian Epoch.
months had naturally been changed
The names
of the
into the Latin lan-
guage; and the Romans, instead of doubling a whole
month, had come to add the extra months, one day to each.
That
is
five
days to several
the reason for some of
our months having thirty-one days.
When known
Caesar was Dictator of Rome,
it
had become
that the year of exactly 365 days was
still
a
little
too short. It should have been 365 J^. So Caesar in reforming the calendar, provided that the
first,
third,
fifth,
seventh, ninth, and eleventh months should be given thirty-one days each, and that the others should have thirty days, except in the case of February
which should
Land Between
'The
have
day only once
its thirtieth
later, his successor,
month of August
the Rivers
the
is
in four years.
Emperor Augustus,
named, decided that
after
his
A
Httle
whom the
month must
be as long as July, which was Julius Caesar's month. Therefore, he stole a day from February and added one to
August; then he changed the following months by making
September and November thirty-day months and giving thirty-one days to October and December.
The
Julian calendar, with these changes
by Augustus,
remained in use until the year A. D. 1582, nearly a century after the discovery of America.
Then
the average year of 365}^ days
was
it
was learned that
still
not exactly right
according to the motion of the earth around the sun. exact time
is
365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds,
being 11 minutes and 14 seconds
When,
The
therefore,
years, as Caesar
we add
less
than 36534 days.
a day to the year every four
commanded, we
are really adding too
much. This excess was corrected by Pope Gregory XII 1582,
when he changed
in
the calendar so that the last year
of a century should be a leap-year only could be divided evenly
by
when
its
number
400. Thus, 1700, 1800,
and
1900 were not leap-years, though the year 2000 will be.
This new calendar, which in
most of the world,
Thus the plan and
is
is
the one
known
now
generally in use
as the Gregorian calendar.
principle of the calendar, as well as
our smaller divisions of time, in spite of the small changes
Time
Telling Through the Ages
by Caesar and Gregory, have remained from the Babylonian days
down
to the present; and
ing to their system in
all
we have done noth-
these thousands of years, except,
incidentally to correct ,it.
Only once
in history
have the measures of the ancient
calendar been set aside. That was in France at the time of the Revolution, sionate hatred of
when
all
them of their past
the French people, in their pas-
the traditional things that reminded
sufferings, invented a
new
calendar, in
which they changed the names of months and days, and counted the years from 1792, the
They also
abolished
all
Sundays and
first
of their liberty.
religious festivals,
and
divided the day into ten hours. This played havoc with time-keeping, and caused great confusion. Watches and clocks were
made with one
circle
of numbers for the
hours, and another, within, on which were
new
shown the old
hours which people could understand. But this complication lasted only a few years, for the traditional system
was soon
To
restored.
return again to
the wise science
men
tTie
era of the
first
calendar. While
of Mesopotamia were engaged in mingling
and mystery, another
civilization, the
Egyptian,
was developing upon the banks of the Nile and passing through much of the same stages. In due course the Persians conquered both
Mesopotamia and Egypt and ab-
sorbed their knowledge.
Still later
the wonderful Greek
The Land Between
the Rivers
nation combined astronomy with mathematics in a
which makes us wonder to
This
this day.
which civihzation has grown. Race century after century has added discoveries to that
its
is
way
the
after race,
in
during
new knowledge and
which has been learned before.
interesting to note that the
way
It is
astronomy of the Babylonians
appears to have been paralleled independently by other ancient civilizations between which there was no apparent possibility of intercourse.
The Chinese
in the
East and the
Aztecs of Mexico, on the other side of the world, invented practically the
same astronomical instruments
as
the
Babylonians and made similar discoveries. All methods of indicating time have been steps upon the long road
which has led to the making of modern timepieces.
The
progressive Greeks did not permit knowledge to be
monopolized by the priesthood and probably their com-
mon
people
knew more about the
stars
than most of the
population of America do to this day. Sailors possessed
no compasses, but they voyaged very
skilfully
with the
guidance of the stars, while farmers, lacking our modern weather-reports and crop-bulletins, learned to govern their planting and harvesting
by the
positions of the heavenly
bodies.
In one sense, this
is
time-telling
and
in another
it is
not,
but our ideas of time and astronomy have always been so closely associated that
it is
hard to think of one apart from
^ime the other. This
Telling' Through the
is
Ages
because the movements of.the- earth,
which produce night and day and the changes of the seasons, are our its
supreme court of time, our
measurement.
we judge
of
its
And
since
we cannot
standard for
final
see the earth
move,
motion by the apparent movement of the
heavenly bodies, just as we realize the movement of a train
by watching the landscape rush past us
Some of the even learned to
great Greek scientists,
year 585 B.
C, was
predicted
we
go.
/
by the way, had
foretell eclipses of the sun.
Herodotus the one which occurred on
as
According to
May
28th, in the
by Thales of Miletus, one of
the famous "Seven Wise Men.'' This event was also cele-
brated because of another interesting association;
it
stopped a battle between the armies of the Medes and the Lydians. Perhaps
we can
guess at what happened.
Un-
doubtedly the eclipse was interpreted by the armies as a sign of divine anger, for the ancients identified
many of the
forces
and objects of nature as gods, and Phoebus Apollo,
who
was believed daily drove
it
his flaming chariot across
the sky, was the great divinity of the sun. Furthermore,
upon
these gods were very apt to meddle with happenings
the earth, particularly with wars, as anyone
the "Iliad" will
who has
read
recall.
Imagine, then, the two armies about to go to battle
when
suddenly something appeared to go wrong with the sun.
There to their amazement,
in a cloudless sky, a
dimming
Time Telling The Chaldean
in
the *'Land Between the Rivers"
priests in ancient
stars, thus
Mesopotamia
combining science with
told time
religion.
by the
Ti
rtugh the
the othc
..cause the
which
.^.iit
^^
,
,
movements
of'the-earth,
and day and the changes of the sea-
vjpreme court of time, our final standard for
..
^.
Ages
arement.
adge of
its
And
since
we cannot
see the earth
move,
motion by the apparent movement of the
heavenly bodies, just as we realize the movement of a train
by watching the landscape rush past us
Some of
the great Greek scientists,
even learned to
foretell eclipses
C, was
we go.^/
by the way, had
of the sun. According to
Herodotus the one which occurred on year 585 B.
as
May
28th, in the
predicted by Thales of Miletus, one of
the famous "Seven Wise Men.*' This event was also cele-
brated because of another interesting
association;
it
stopped a battle between the armies of the Medes and the Lydians. Perhaps
we can
guess at what happened.
Un-
doubtedly the eclipse was interpreted by the armies as a sign of divine anger, for the ancients identified
many of the
forces
and objects of nature as gods, and Phoebus Apollo,
who
was believed daily drove
it
his flaming chariot across
the sky, was the great divinity of the sun. Furthermore,
upon
these gods were very apt to meddle with happenings
the earth, particularly with wars, as anyone
who has
read
the "Iliad'^ will recall
Imagine, then, the two armies about to go to battle
when
suddenly something appeared to go wrong with the sun.
There to their amazement, **8^HVlM 3HT
in a cloudless sky, a
^33WT39 Q^Ad*^ 3HT
MI
dimming
OMIJJsT 3MlT
^he Land Between
shadow touched the edge of the began slowly to blot
out.
it
each other and stared
in
The
the Rivers
sun's shining disk
and
warriors forgot to fight
terror at the sky.
dwindled to a crescent; a weird twilight
The sun upon the
fell
earth. Finally, the last thread of brightness disappeared
leaving a dull circle in the sky, surrounded
of
The gloom
light.
and animals went to
of night
fell
by
faint
bands
upon the ground. Birds
their rest.
No further evidence was needed by the superstitious and must be true that Phoebus Apollo
frightened soldiers. It
was grievously angered, and they forthwith arms.
The sun
this action
This
is
then,
down their
god, of course, soon showed his approval of
by coming back into the
only one of
show the
laid
many
tales
sky.
which might be told to Learning,
state of superstition in those days.
was confined to the few, and
was used to mystify or
terrorize the
and thus keep them submissive. At
in
many
instances
mass of the people
best,
new
ideas were
slow to grow or to be believed.
For example, Pythagorus, the great Greek philosopher of the sixth century B,
but
it
was not
twenty centuries
know that
it
C, believed the earth to be
Columbus discovered America
until
—that
later
was not
a globe,
flat.
people generally began to
Even in these modem days of the
public school, the press, the telephone, the telegraph, the wireless
and other means
for the wide-spread distribution
'Time Telling Through the Ages
of knowledge,
how
slowly does truth
find its
way
to ac-
To this day, superstition is by no means dead. Even Mark Twain, who scoffed at superstition all his
ceptance
life,
!
often said that, as he
Comet,
in the
came
into the world with Halley's
year 1835, so he expected to die in 1910, the
year of the comet's next appearance. Strangely enough, his half-jesting
prophecy was
he really did die in
fulfilled, for
that year.
Astronomers to-day can to
happen
in the
figure out in
is
heavens with an exactness which would
have seemed magical
and
in olden times,
astonishing even now. Their power
proved
advance what
is
largely
is
scientific instruments, proficiency in
hardly
less
due to im-
mathematics
and greater accuracy in the measurement of time. Not only is
the date of an eclipse of the sun
but so also
is
in
advance,
the exact path of the shadow across the world,
and the instant of its appearance
We now
now known
have glanced
in
any given
briefly at a
place.
few of the features
of early humanity's dependence upon the clocks of nature
and the way
We
still
we do
it
clocks
in
which they influenced
its
manner of
life.
depend upon these great primeval timepieces and for the
must
still
most part unconsciously,
for
our master
be set by the motion of the heavenly
bodies.
That motion, which now we know to be lution of our earth,
is still
really the revo-
the legislator and supreme court
^he Land Between of time. But
we have
learned to
the Rivers
make and
carry every-
where a wonderful machine, whose revolving wheels and pointing hands keep tryst with the stars in the heavens and
move
to the
rhythm of wheeling worlds. And
it
or think of time at
hands upon the
is
man's making, that we forget to look be-
this talisman of
yond
so familiar
all
save as the position of the
dial.
We carry with us carelessly a toy which
—our watch
the solar system
is
*e3SB-
tells tales
a pocket universe.
upon
CHAPTER THREE How
"Began
<^3(Can
^^Model
to
^After 3\(ature
WE
NOW have reached a point far ahead of our
story and
must take a backward
been seeing
man
but
man
step.
We have
mere observer of nature;
as a
doesn't stop with nature as he finds
it
—
his
man-brain drives him forward; he must make improve-
ments of
his
own. Animals
no trace save
their bones,
disappear, but
man
may
which
five
and die and leave
for the
most part soon
always leaves traces behind him.
He
has always interfered with nature, or rather has modeled after nature, seeing in her ples
work the
and laws^that he might
own benefit and
progress.
up from the accumulated
revelations of princi-
utilize in
varying ways for his
Our material
civilization
results of all this
is
built
study and con-
nature by hundreds of millions of busy brains and
trol of
hands, through tens of thousands of years.
Here we ages of
are, then, living, in a sense
human
history, like the dwellers
Hundreds of generations have structure for us, like the their
own lives
little
on the top of the on a coral
toiled to raise the vast
coral "polyps"
into the mass, yet
island.
we
take
it all
which build as a
matter
How Man
Began
Model After Nature
to
of course and rarely give a thought to the marvelous ways
by which it has come about. You may have just glanced
at
your watch. To you, perhaps, a watch has always seemed merely a small mechanism which was bought
That
is
turer
who had
true,
and yet
—remember
this
—the
in a store.
first
manufac-
a hand in producing that watch for you,
may have been a caveman. In order to appreciate this development, therefore, for another rapid in its crudest
us return,
view of prehistoric times;
—one day much
form
population, huddled in
let
little
like
another
life
—a scanty
groups in places naturally
—the simplest physical needs to be provided thought of the past or care the future—time-
sheltered
—
little
for
for
reckoning reduced to the single thought of appointment
no reason
for
measuring intervals
—
in these
and other
re-
spects antiquity presented the greatest possible contrast to
our complicated modem
The long-armed man
life.
of our
first
the sun moved, the shadows* of the all
other shadows.
natural for
him
chapter noticed that as cliff
also
moved,
As he formed habits of regularity,
as did it
was
to perform a certain daily act when, per-
haps, the shadow of a certain tree touched upon a certain stone. This
would be a natural
sun-dial.
But a thinner, sharper shadow would be serve; suppose, therefore, that
armed man
set
up a pole
in
easier to ob-
some successor to the long-
some open space and
laid a
—
— ^Time I'elling 'Through the Ages
stone to
mark the
was highest dial
spot where the
in the heavens.
shadow
That would be an
a device deliberately -planned
purpose.
The man who
first
the
manufacturer
who had
first
fell
to
when the sun artificial
sun-
accomplish a certain
took such a step was probably a hand in supplying you
mammoth,
with your watch. The shaggy
the terrible
saber-tooth tiger and the eohippus, the small ancestor of
our modern horse, must have been familiar sights when time-recording at the hands of some rude, unconscious
inventor thus began the long story of its development.
One
stone reached
by the moving shadow would mark
only one point of time each day. three stones, or even
Why not place two stones,
more and get more markings ? Such a
procedure would be more useful because
it
would indicate
the time of other happenings in the course of the day.
The
sun would pass across the skies and the shadow must travel
around the
pole.
What more
natural than to place the
stones in a circle and get a series of these markings ?
Of course,
as the ages passed,
life
—not complex as we would consider pared with
its
new needs
developed,
it
to-day, but, as
com-
New
habits were formed,
activities
were undertaken at
rude beginnings.
new
became more complex
different periods.
modem civilization of each man in his own
Here, then, was the sprouting of the beginning of that specializing
particular direction that has carried the world to its pres-
How Man Began
to
Model After Nature
ent high state of expertness in so steadily,
and inevitably
many
fields.
Slowly has
this principle of specialization
been developed. With the increase of laws, for example, certain
men came
to give
knowledge and
sell their
them skill
special study
to other
and then to
men who had no
opportunity for such study. In course of time, the aggregation of laws
became
to specialize
a
number of
among themselves; classes of
true of doctors find those
so great that these lawyers
who
law
who have
were forced
to-day, therefore,
we
find
The same thing
specialists.
limited their practise until
is
we
treat the eye only, or the lungs, the stom-
ach, or the teeth.
Even
the treatment of the teeth has been
subdivided, some dentists limiting themselves to extraction
and some of them even to the treatment of a
sinsle
disease of the gums.
Engineering, too, has branched like a tree and the
branches have branched again and yet again. Electrical engineering has come to be divided into so
many
ments that telephone companies employ
depart-
specialists in
many branches of the engineering profession.
We
find the
—
activity
all
same conditions
is
any
field
commercial and industrial
subdivided; labor
teaching
in
is
life is
specialized; writing
specialized; even warfare has
between many kinds of trained
of thought or
is
divided and specialized;
become a contest
specialists,
each employing
the tools of his trade; and every man's outlook upon
life is
'Time 'Telling Through the Ages
directed chiefly toward the particular corner of the partic-
ular field that he has fitted himself to occupy.
The
first
step toward this complex condition of the
modern world was taken when each man stopped getting his
own
food,
making
his
own weapons, and providing upon
for
all his
individual wants without dependence
When
he learned to exchange that which he could best
produce for that which some other
make
better than he, the
away from the the long, slow
itself
learned to
human race unconsciously turned
status of the birds
and the beasts and began
upward climb that history
records.
through trade, barter and exchange that
It was, then,
man began
man had
others.
to acquire the manners of civilized
became a
specialized activity,
nothing but buy and
sell,
life.
Trade
and dealers who did
but themselves produced no
material goods, found that a special calling was rightfully theirs.
The modern merchant
"specialists" in
human
is
the heir of one of the
activity,
and the misunderstood
work of
the so-called "middleman"
modem
civilization
is
one of the bases of
—a necessary and honorable
Civilization
is
a thing of the spirit, but
of material things and
it
it
calling.
has the support
has been truly said that the de-
gree of a people's civilization can be measured multiplicity of shelter
its
needs.
and a covering
first
The savage
is
for his body,
civilization's progress has a
by the
content with food,
but every step in
more and more complex ma-
The First Recorded Sun Dial The ''Dial of Ahaz" was probably a flight of curving steps upon which a beam of sunlight fell. See Isaiah, xxxviii.
i/irough
v,^'
Aj
the
.rd the particular corner of the partic'.
he has
:step
toward
n world was taken
•
his
fitted
own
food,
making
his
himself to occupy.
complex condition of the
this
when each man stopped
getting
own weapons, and providing upon
for
all his
individual wants without dependence
When
he learned to exchange that which he could best
produce for that which some other
make
better than he, the
away from the the long, slow It
human
man had
others.
learned to
race unconsciously turned
status of the birds and the beasts
upward climb that history
and began
records.
was, then, through trade, barte'
man began itself
that
to acquire the manners
became a
rade o did
specialized activit
nothing but buy and
bir
sell,
es
produced no
material goods, found that a special calling was rightfully theirs.
The modem merchant
"specialists" in
work of the
human
—
activity,
a necessary
Ci
'le
of material
the heir of one of the
and
first
and the misunderstood
so-called '^middleman"
ivjlization
ni
is
is
one of the bases of
and honorable calHng.
spirit,
but
it
has the support
been truly said
tr.:{
the de-
gree of a people's civilization can be measured
by the
tilings
multiplicity of shelter
its
it ha^-
needs.
and a covering
The savage
is
for his body,
civilization's progress has a
content with food,
but ever^' step i»
more and more complex ma-
jAiQ Mu2 ana^Oeiail
thhi'^I
hhT
How Man Began terial
of
to
Model After Nature
accompaniment, and these interwoven relationships
modem
Hfe in which the question of time
a most im-
is
portant factor can only be sustained through the use of accurate time-measure. In other words, tion leans
modem
civiliza-
upon the watch.
But here again we have run somewhat ahead of our story which, as a matter of
fact,
had only reached the point of
primitive sun-dials. But this anticipation will be excused
because of the importance of emphasizing that the growing interdependence of human relations had
made
it
necessary
to take into account the convenience of a greater and
greater
number
of people, and this involved closer and
closer time-recording in smaller divisions of time
by more
exact methods.
The
sun-dial
underwent so many changes that a volume
would be needed to describe them
all.
For example,
it
was
found that the shadow of an upright stick or stone varied
from day to day, because, as we have already noticed, the sun
rises farther
phere than
it
north in
summer
does in winter. So the
would change
in the northern
mark for a
as the season changed,
hemis-
certain
and the
dial
hour
would
not indicate time accurately. Berosus, a Chaldean historian and priest of Bel, or Baal,
a god of the old Babylonian, lived about the year 250 B.
and hit upon a very ingenious way of solving this
He made the
dial
C,
difficulty.
hollow like the inside of a bowl. Into this •§419-
'Time Telling Through the Ages
the shadow was cast
by
a Httle round ball or bead at the
end of a pointer that stood horizontally out over the bowl.
Now the
sky
itself is like
a great
sphere, and, howsoever the sun
bovv^l
moved upon
same way upon the
would move
in the
hemisphere.
And by drawing
or inverted hemiit,
the shadow
inside of the
bowl or
lines in the bowl, similar to
the lines of longitude upon the map, the hours could be
The "Hemicycle
correctly measured. called,
remained
form of sun-dial
in use for centuries
all
through the
Rome. Cicero had one one was found,
of Berosus," as
classic period of Greece
and
Tusculum, and
Pompeii.
But the hemicycle was not easy to make unless fairly small, and, if small,
was
and was the favorite
at his villa near
in 1762, at
it
it
was not very easy to
it
were
read.
You
can see that a shadow which traveled only a few inches in a whole see
it
day would move
go.
And
so slowly that one could hardly
the shadow of a round ball
is
not a clear
sharp-pointed thing like the hand of a watch, whose exact position can be seen
however small
it
may be.
Besides, the
ancients were not very particular about exact timekeeping.
They had no
trains to catch,
and
in their leisurely lives
convenience counted for more than doing things "on the
minute." So they
still
which the Greeks
who
continued using the upright pointer
called the gnomon,
meaning "the one
knows."
"Cleopatra's Needle," and other Egyptian obelisks
*&42 9'
may
How Man also
Began
to
Model After Nature
have been used as huge gnomons to cast their shadows
upon
mammoth
With an
dials, for
they were dedicated to the sun.
object of such great size the
shadow would move
rapidly enough to be followed easily
course
its
by the
eye.
motion would be irregular because of the
face of the dial.
The word
"dial,"
But of flat sur-
by the way, comes from
the Latin dies meaning "day," because
it
determined the
divisions of the day.
Then
there
move over going
was applied the idea of making the shadow
a hollow space, such as a walled courtyard,
down one
side, across,
and up the other
side as the
sun went up, across and down the sky. Sometimes light
was used instead of shadow, the place being roofed over and a single
beam
of light being admitted
through a small hole at the southern end.
beam
of the motion of this
as
it
partially
Men
kept track
touched one point after
another during the day.
Do you remember the tioned in the Bible
\
miracle of the dial of Ahaz,
men-
Hezekiah the king was sick and desr
pondent, and would not believe that he could ever recover
from
his illness or prevail against his enemies.
So the pro-
phet, Isaiah, in an effort to comfort the royal sufferer,
made
the shadow return backward ten degrees upon the
dial of Ahaz, as a sign
from heaven that
king's future recovery in Isaiah,
was
true.
Chapter thirty-eight.
You
his
prophecy of the
will find the story
"Time 1'elling 'Through the Ages
This dial of Ahaz was probably a curved rising like the side of a
huge bowl at one end of the palace
courtyard, with either a shadow cast
head or a beam of
flight of steps
light
by a pointer over-
admitted through an opening. It
can be seen that this and similar great dials were applications of the hemicycle idea
on a
large scale.
According to our chronology, the dial of Ahaz must have
been built during the eighth century, B. C. Although the sun-dial period was, of course,
many hundreds
older than this, yet the story of this
phet
is
the
first
of years
Hebrew king and
pro-
authentic reference to a sun-dial which has
been discovered.
However, the
when
it
final
improvement of the
was discovered that by
dial
was made
slanting the pointer, or
—the
gnomon, exactly toward the north pole of the sky point where the north star appears at night
shadow could be
cast
upon a
flat
—the
sun's
surface with accurate
results in indicating time.
may sound simple, but if you will look at a sun-dial such as may still be found in gardens, you will see that the This
lines of the
hours and minutes are laid out on certain care-
fully calculated angles;
you
will realize that people
had to
acquire considerable knowledge before they were capable
of making such calculations.
making
is
The whole
subject of dial-
so complicated that, in 1612, there was published
a big book of eight hundred pages on the subject.
How Man Began The
to
Model After Nature
angles of the Hnes of the sun-dial
must be
different
for different latitudes. It took that strong-arm race of an-
cient times, the
Romans, a hundred years to learn
The Romans,
fact.
civilization
this
at this time, were developing their
from the shoulders downward, while the
Greeks and some of the Greek colonies developed theirs
from the shoulders upward.
Rome was
powerful military muscles. Whatever
and took at the point of the sword,
a burly power, with
it
as
wanted
it
went out
some nations have
endeavored to do in latter days. Thus, the city of
became a vast storehouse of miscellaneous
loot
Rome
—the
fruit
of other men's brains and hands.
Some conqueror dial
of that day took back with
from the Greek colony of
Rome, where nobody
Sicily.
him a sun-
This was set up in
realized that even the
power of
Rome's armies was not able to transplant the angle of the sun as
it
shone upon Sicily far to the southward. It was
nearly one hundred years before these self-satisfied robbers
found that they had been getting the wrong time-record
from the stolen instrument. Thus, the original owners had a form of belated revenge, could they but have
One of the
largest of all the sun-dials
known it.
was the one
set
up by the Roman Emperor Augustus when he returned from
his
Egyptian wars bringing with him an obelisk not
unlike the one which
Museum
now
stands near the Metropolitan
of Art in Central Park, *&4S
-Q*
New York
City. If
you
.^
Time can imagine
this
Telling Through the Ages
Egyptian obelisk, with
glyphic characters upon
its
four sides, surrounded
great dial with the figures of the hours surface, piece.
you
will get
However,
it
strange hiero-
its
an idea of the
by a
marked upon
size of this
its
huge time-
was probably more picturesque than
valuable as a time-keeper.
There
is
an important difference between clocks and
sun-dials, aside
from the self-evident one of the difference Clock-time
in their construction.
''mean time." If sunrises
we study
is
based on what
is
called
the almanac table of times of
and sunsets, and count the number of hours from
sunrise of one
day to
sunrise of the next,
we
find
it is
rarely
exactly twenty-four hours, but usually a few minutes more or
less,
hours.
on
while the average for the whole year
is
twenty-four
The clock is constructed to keep uniform time based
this average length of day.
The
sun-dial time
marks "apparent time," the actual
varying length of each day. The sun-dial time, therefore,
is
nearly always some minutes ahead or behind that of a clock, the greatest discrepancy being
utes for a few days in
about sixteen min-
November. There
are,
however, four
days in the year when the clock and the sun-dial agree perfectly in the time they indicate.
June 15th, September
When
1st,
These days are April 15th,
and December 24th.
in the eighteenth century clocks
gan to come into wide-spread use sun-dials -§469-
and watches befell
into neglect,
How Man
Began
to
Model After Nature
except as an appropriate bit of ornament in gardens.
Man,
Castletown, in the Isle of
with thirteen It
is
At
a remarkable sun-dial
from 1720.
faces, dating
was usual to place on
sun-dials appropriate mottoes
expressing a sentiment exciting inspiration or giving a
warning to better
A dial
living.
that used to be at Paul's
Cross, London, bore an inscription in Latin, which translated means, "I count none but the
sunny hours." In an old
sweet-scented garden in Sussex was a sun-dial with a plate
bearing four mottoes, each for
its
own
season: **After
darkness, light;" "Alas,
how
move;"
Sometimes short familiar prov-
''So passes life."
swift;" "I wait whilst I
erbs were used like: "All things do longest
day must end;" "Make hay while the sun shines."
It is told of
Lord Bacon, that, without intending to do
he furnished the motto borne by a dial that stood in the
so,
old to
wax and wane;" "The
Temple Gardens
in
him for a suggestion
built.
London. for the
A young student was sent
motto of the dial, then being
His lordship was busy at work in his rooms when the
messenger humbly and respectfully made his request.
There was no answer,
A
second request met with equally
oppressive silence and seeming ignorance of even the existence of the speaker.
At
last,
when
the petitioner ven-
tured a third attack on the attention of the venerable chancellor,
Bacon looked up and
gone about your business.^'
said sharply:
"A thousand
*'
thanks,
Sirrah, be
my lord,"
!
Time
Telling Through the Ages
was the unexpected
"The very thing
reply,
for the dial
Nothing could be better."
We see that the principle of the sun-dial has been recognized and utilized for
many centuries;
sun-dials placed in gardens
them
dinosaur and the saber-toothed
They have been
we
still
find
and parks although we rarely
take the trouble to look to
day.
indeed,
for the time. Like the
they have had their
tiger,
forced to give
way
to devices that
overcame some of their objections; therefore we must not linger too long
upon what
is,
after
the history of time-recording.
-e48s-
all,
a closed chapter in
CHAPTER FOUR "Telling
Time by
"OW we must
the TVater-Thief
take another backward step of
thousands of years. In considering the subject of time-recording,
it
seems necessary to wear a pair
of mental seven-league boots, for we must often pass back
and forth over great periods were
still
While men
at single strides.
improving the sun-dial,
its
disadvantages were
already recognized and search was being
made
for
some
other means of telling time. Suppose, for example, that one had only a sun-dial
about the house; how would one be able to sunset or on a dark day?
he were surrounded by trees
?
And
any of these
it
tell
time after
How would one know the hour if
tall
buildings or a thick growth of
might be very necessary to
tell
time under
conditions.
Then, again, merely as a question of accuracy, the sundial
was not always
way
if
reliable. It
would get badly out of the
used by travelers, since different markings were
needed for different
latitudes.
While on shipboard the mo-
tion of the waves would cause the shadow to swing around in the
tions
most bewildering manner. Even under
it
was never absolutely
ideal condi-
exact, because the apparent
-§49^
'Time Telling Through the Ages
motion of our steady-gaited old sun
is
not quite as de-
pendable as most of us imagine.
Astronomers find that they must allow call
for
what they
"equation of time" in order to make their calculations
come out
true.
point, but
The
can be seen that, as humanity
it
anxious over
For
its affairs, it
came
to feel that after
was not altogether sufficient
this reason
we
are
now taking
a third big
the
seven hundred years ago and possibly
backward
caveman but to an-
Babylon and Egypt, probably not
way we meet
all
for its needs.
step, returning, this time, not to the
cient
left its earliest
and began to get busy, and hurried and
care-free days
sun-dial
question need not be discussed at this
less
than twenty-
much longer. In this
the clepsydra.
The clepsydra was an
it
had
*'thief of water'*
and
interesting instrument,
an interesting name, which meant the
and
came from two Greek words meaning "thief" and "water";
you can
trace this in our words "kleptomaniac"
and
"hydrant."
We
much more
nearly a machine than was the simple shade-
shall
now examine
a timepiece that
was
casting sun-dial.
The
original idea
was simple enough. At
first,
merely that of a vessel of water, having a small hole
it
was
in the
bottom, so that the liquid dripped out drop by drop. As the level within the jar
upon a
scale.
Thus,
if
was lowered,
it
showed the time
the hole were so small and the vessel
'Telling 'Time
were so large that the water to drip
it
by the "JVater-Thief^
would require twenty-four hours
away at an absolutely steady rate,
it
for
may
be seen that the side of the vessel might easily have been
marked with twenty-four
divisions to indicate the hours.
may also be seen that the water would drip as rapidly at night or in shadow as in sunlight. And the clepsydra could It
be used indoors, which the sun-dial could not, although required attention in that
must be regularly
it
refilled
it
and
the orifice must always be kept completely open, because the slightest stoppage would retard the rate of dripping
and the "clock" would run slow.
The
sun, which, with the other heavenly bodies,
therefore been the sole reliance of the
time-reckoning could
now be
human
had
race in
its
ignored and the would-be
timekeeper called to his aid another mighty servant from the forces of nature
The most clepsydra
tion of the
interesting
that
is
—that of gravitation.
it
human
fact,
however, about the
involved an entirely different concep-
Now it was not so much long. A good sun-dial set in
marking of time.
question of when as of hozu
proper position would always indicate three o'clock it
was three
thing. It since last
a
a
when
but the clepsydra might do no such
o'clock,
would merely show how many hours had elapsed it
was
filled,
escaping water could
and the steady
drip, drip, drip of the
—and did—lower
as evenly at one time of
day
the surface quite
as at another.
— Time
We have
Telling Through the Ages
already seen that the
first
purpose in marking
time was merely for making appointments, but the clepsy-
dra shows that, with
made some
its
invention,
progress toward a
new
mankind had already point of view.
One im-
portant factor in this change was the very practical need of telling time at night, in stormy weather, or indoors,
where the sun-dial could not be used. The clepsydra, on the other hand, worked equally well at any hour or place,
and
in all sorts of weather.
Nevertheless,
too,
it,
proved to have certain
faults.
After a time, people noticed the interesting fact that water
ran faster from a
full vessel
than from one which was
nearly empty; this was, of course, because of the greater pressure. Since such a variation interfered with calculations,
they hit upon the idea of a double vessel; the larger
one below containing a
float
which rose as the vessel
filled,
thus marking the hours upon the scale, and the smaller one above, the one from which the water dripped, being kept constantly
filled
to the point of overflow.
This improved form of clepsydra opened a cinating possibilities in time-recording to
make use
of a machine.
There
is,
it
field
of fas-
gave the chance
perhaps, no more inter-
human development than to see the steady, inevitable way in which mankind from its cave-
esting point in studying
dwelling days has tended toward machinery. this progress
may be
Roughly,
characterized as of three stages.
First.
'Telling
Time by
Primitive
man
the
—an
"Water-Thief upright-standing
animal,
naked, unarmed, weak as compared with some creatures, slow as compared with others, clumsy as compared with still
others
—a creature with many physical disadvantages,
but with the best brain in the animal kingdom. Second.
The
tool-using
man, who had begun to grasp
weapons and to fashion implements, thus supplementing his natural abilities
Third.
by artificial means.
The machine-making man, who has fashioned
himself a mechanical **body" of incredible powers to say, he has learned to intensify his artificial
—that
as
when he made
the telescope to give himself greater vision; he has
by means of which he can outrun the
outfly the birds,
outswim the
and overmatch the elephants
is
own powers through
means which he has invented,
inventions
to
fishes,
made
antelopes,
outgaze the eagles,
in sheer physical force
—he
can turn night into day, can send his voice across the continent, can strike crushing blows at a distance of many
miles and can carry the pocket.
movements of the
Some phases of this
when man first
stars in his
third stage were foreshadowed
applied wheels and pulleys to his clepsydra.
Here, then, was water steadily raised or lowered
means of uniform dropping; here was a was controlled by that of the water;
float
to the float, cause
it
to turn a wheel
whose motion
here, in fact,
water-power with a means for applying
it.
by was
Attach a cord
by use of the pulley-
'Time Telling Through the Ages principle,
time.
and the motion of the wheel would indicate the
Still better,
rig
up a turning-pointer, increase
speed through the use of toothed gear-wheels, place
its
it
in
front of a stationary disk divided to indicate the hours,
and now the apparatus looked not unlike a modern
Or attach
a bell
and
let it
clock.
be caused to ring at a certain point in the
motion—what
was that but an alarmclock.?
Ctesibus of Alex-
andra was the one believed
first
who
is
to have ap-
plied the toothed wheels
to the clepsydra and this
was about 140 B.C. Clepsydrae were expensive
of course; accurate
mechanical work was never cheap until modern times.
men
Cunning
crafts-
spent their time up-
on costly decorations, and these water-clocks became triumphs of the jeweler's like the sun-dial,
art,
a gift for kings. Therefore,
they drifted into
Rome
—that vast mael-
strom of the ancient world. Imagine a great walled city of low flat-roofed buildings, with fronts and porches of great columns, a town mostly of stone and
'&54S-
much
of
it
of
I'elHng 'Time by the '^Water-Thief*
marble, gleaming white
under the bright Italian sun, the streets thronged
with
men
in tunics
and
togas and here and there
some person of importance driving by, standing erect in his chariot
drawn
by four horses harnessed abreast.
And
statues
everywhere, in the streets
and about the buildings
and
in
cool
courtyards
and gardens among green leaves.
The ancients
thought of sculpture as
an
where we have one statue our
cities,
them
wonders
them indoors and out
thing,
and
in the streets or public places of
they had a hundred.
as artistic
outdoor
in
We treasure the remains of
our museums, but they put
common ornaments, and
as
lived
among them. Presently
we hear of the
law courts by speakers.
command
clepsydra being used in
Roman
of Pompey, to limit the time of
''This," says one writer of the day,
"was to
prevent babblings, that such as spoke ought to be brief
^SS^
'Time 'Telling Through the Ages in their speeches." It s
is
not
difficult to picture
some pom-
pons and tiresome togaed advocate, rolUng out sonorous Latin syllables as he
precedents and builds up
cites
arguments, while an unseen dropping checks the time against him, and to hear his indignant surprise
chuckles of his auditors cuts
him
—^when the
short in the middle of
relentless water-clock
some
period. Martial, the
Latin poet, referring to a tiresome speaker ly moistened his throat
him and
repeated-
it
would be an equal
relief
to his audience, if he were to drink from the
clepsydra. But
sometimes,
who
from a glass of water during the
lengthy speech, suggested that to
—and the
so
Roman we
are
lawyers were not guileless, and told,
mechanical regulation or
else
they tampered with the introduced
muddy
water,,
which would run out more slowly. This suggests one of the Still
more
serious
was the
difficulties
fact that
it
of the clepsydra.
would
freeze
on
frosty nights. There were
no Pearys among the ancient
Romans; polar exploration
interested
them not
at
all;
but
they did spread their conquests into regions of colder
—as when Julius Caesar mentions using the clep-
weather
sydra to regulate the length of the night-watches in Britain.
His keen mind noted by this means that the summer
nights in Britain were shorter than those at
now known to be due to As late
Rome,
a fact
difference of latitude.
as the ninth century, a clepsydra
-§56^
was regarded as
'Telling
a princely
Time by
gift. It is said,
Raschid, beloved by
all
the
*^
Water-Thief"
that the good caliph, Harun-al-
readers of the "Arabian Nights,"
sent one of great beauty to Charlemagne, the
the West. Its case
was
Emperor of
elaborate, and, at the stroke of each
hour, small doors opened to give passage to cavaliers.
After the twelfth hour these cavaliers retired into the case.
The
striking apparatus consisted of small balls
which
dropped into a resounding basin underneath.
The
clepsydra appears to have been used throughout the
Middle Ages
in
some European
along in Italy and France century.
Some
countries,
down to the
and
it
lingered
close of the fifteenth
of these water-clocks were plain tin tubes;
some were hollow cups, each with a tiny hole at the bottom, which were placed in water and gradually sank
and
in a definite space of time.
When
the clepsydra was introduced from Egypt into
Rome, one was considered enough
Greece, and later into for each
town and was
public square. It
who
filled
was
religiously filled
set in the
market-place or some
carefully guarded
it
at stated times.
town and the wealthy people
by a
The
civic officer,
nobility of the
sent their servants to find out
the exact time, while the poorer inhabitants were informed occasionally
by the sound of the horn which was blown by
the attendant of the clepsydra to denote the hour of
changing the guard. This was calls of the
much
in the spirit of the
watchmen in old England, and later in our New
Ti'ime
England,
who
'Telling
Through
the
Ages
were, in a way, walking clocks that shouted
"Eleven o'clock and
all's
well," or whatever
might be the
hour.
Allowing for the fact that the clepsydra was none too accurate at the best and that ally be refilled, piece,
stage
it
reservoir
can be seen that
having played
when a more
With one of its
its
its
part,
this,
must occasion-
early form of time-
wa? ready to step
practical successor should arrive.
earliest successors
we
off ,
the /|
are familiar.
i -6585*
CHAPTER FIVE How Father 'Time Got His Hour-Glass VERY
now and then one
sees a picture of a lean
old gentleman, with a long white beard, flowing robes,
and an expression of most misleading
benignity. In spite of his look of kindly good humor, he is
none too popular with the human race and
are not always of the gentlest. In one
hand he
familiar scythe, and, in the other, the even hour-glass.
By
this
pictured in this
mon
way
his
methods
carries the
more familiar
we may assume that he began while the hour-glass was
still
in
to be
com-
use.
The
principle of the hour-glass
clepsydra,
and
its first
is
so similar to that of the
use was so early, that
it is
somewhat
of a misnomer to speak of it as a successor. About the only justification that can be
made
is
that the clepsydra has
long disappeared, while the sand-glass glass
—
is still
—
if
not the hour-
sold in the stores for such familiar uses as
timing the boiling of eggs, the length of telephone-conversations,
and other short-time needs.
Nothing could be much simpler than the hour-glass, which
fine
in
sand poured through a tiny hole from an upper
into a lower compartment. It
had none of the mechanical
'Time Telling Through the Ages
features of the later clepsydrae;
it
did not adjust itself to
astronomical laws like the perfected sun-dials;
it
merely
permitted a steady stream of fine sand to pass through an
opening at a uniform rate of speed, until one of the funnel-
shaped bowls had emptied
itself
unconcern until some one stood
—then waited with entire
it
upon
its
head and caused
the sand to run back again.
However,
it
possessed some very solid advantages of
would not
own.
It
need
refilling; it
freeze;
would not
it
would run at a steady empty;
reservoir were full or nearly
was nothing about
cheaply, and there
A water-clock might be clock, since
it
an hour-glass ular, it
naturally
size small
its
to
made very
wear out.
enough to carry
—became pop-
use was correspondingly limited. Thus,
was assigned to Father Time to be
gentleman works by
by day.
How old is the sand-glass do not know
carried
A sun-dial simply would not
this purpose, since the old
night as steadily as
We
whether the
could be it
did not
of considerable size but a sand-
before watches were available.
answer
rate
it
required turning, must be kept small, and
—a
although
it
over;
spill
its
.?
definitely,
but
it is
said to
have been
invented at Alexandria about the middle of the third cen-
tury B. C. That for a
Greek
it
was known
bas-relief at the
in ancient
Athens
Mattei Palace
in
is
certain,
Rome,
repre-
senting a marriage, shows Morpheus, the god of dreams, *&6oB*
Hozv Father 'Time Got His Hour-Glass holding an hour-glass.
to carry these
we do our watches.
timepieces as
Some
The Athenians used
hour-glasses contained mercury, but sand
ideal substance, for,
when
and dry,
fine
it
was an
flows with an
approximately constant speed whether the quantity
is
great or small, whereas, liquids descend more swiftly the
greater the pressure above the opening.
Hour-glasses were introduced into churches in the early sixteenth century when the preachers were famous for their
wearisome sermons. The story
told of one of these long-
is
winded divines who, on a hot day, had reached
his
*'tenthly" just as the restless congregation were gladdened
to see the last grains of sand
fall
from the upper bowl.
"Brethren," he remarked; "Let us take another glass," and
he reversed
—"Ahem,
it
as I
was saying
—" And he went on
for another hour.
Other preachers, more merciful, used a half-hour glass
and kept within
its limits.
Many
churches were furnished
with ornamental stands to hold the
glass.
These time-
keepers lingered along in country churches for years, but ceased to be in anything like general
many
demand
after about 1650.
For rough purposes of keeping time on board glasses
were employed and
and half-hour British
navy
glasses
it is
curious to note that hour
were used for
this
as recently as the year 1839.
'€615-
ship, sand-
purpose in the
'Time Telling Through the Ages
The very baby eight second affair
of the vessel.
of the hour-glass family
which
The
assisted in determining the speed
was divided by knots,
log-line
tervals of forty-seven feet, three inches,
would go into a nautical mile eight seconds
was a twenty-
as
many
and
this distance
times as twenty-
When
would go into an hour.
at in-
the line was
thrown overboard the mariner counted the number of knots slipping through his fingers while his eyes were fixed
on the tiny emptying sand-glass, and
in this
way
so
many
"knots" an hour denoted the ship's speed in miles. In the British House of time, a two-minute glass "division," which
is
a
Commons, even is
at the present
used in the preliminary to a
method of voting wherein the mem-
bers leave their seats and go into either the affirmative or
negative lobbies. While the sand bells" are set in
members It
motion
in
is
running, "division-
every part of the building to give
notice that a "division"
is
at hand.
was an ancient custom to put an
emblem that
the sands of
life
had run
hour-glass, as an
out, into coffins at
burials.
Another early means of recording time applied the principle of the
consumption of some slow-burning
From remote
ages, the Chinese
fuel
by
and Japanese thus used
ropes, knotted at regular intervals, or cylinders of glue
sawdust marked in
rings,
fire.
and
which slowly smoldered away.
Alfred the Great, that noble English king of the ninth
How century,
of a
is
vow
Father 'Time Got His Hour-Glass
said to
have invented the candle-clock, because
to give eight hours of the
He had
acts of religion,
and eight hours to
eight hours to public affairs, recreation.
day to
six tapers
and
rest
made, each twelve inches
long and divided into twelve parts, or inches, colored alternately black
and white. Three of these parts were
burned in one hour, making each inch represent twenty minutes, so that his six candles, lighted one after the other
by his
chaplains,
The Eskimos
would burn also,
for twenty-four hours.
through the long arctic night have
watched the lamp which gives both cold huts of snow.
But
all
these are no
conveniences, whose irregularity likewise
upon
no need to do more than
fire in
light
is
call
and heat to
their
more than crude
evident,
and there
is
attention to the effect
any form, of wind or dampness
in the air.
The Roman lamp-clock sheltered from the weather was the best of
them
all,
and was the only one which long con-
tinued in civilized use.
Our
chief interest in
touch of poetry
still
all
such devices comes from the
remaining in the tradition of the sa-
cred flame which must be kept forever burning, and in association of
life
and time with
fire,
in
such parables as
that of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. There of this old time-keeping
philosophy which
tells
by
fire
is
a reminder
in all that poetry
of hope that
still
may
and
live or of
deedsthat maybe done,* 'while the lamp holds out to burn.'*
'Time 'Telling Through the Ages
Thus
far, in spite
Ages and of
of occasional glimpses of the Middle
modem
times,
we have
Now
part, with earlier ages.
dealt, for the
our story must leave these
behind, and thus passes the ancient world with
pagan
civilization
simple. It
is
difficult for
life
was
strange
modern Americans even to imagine
Egypt and Mesopotamia
toward
its
which was so human, so wise and so
existence in ancient Greece or cient
most
Rome
or in
still
more an-
—since the whole attitude
so essentially different from
what
it
is
to-day.
Our debt time
is
to the ancients in this one matter of recording
typical of that in
many others. To them we owe our
whole fundamental system and conception of
it
from the
astronomy by which we measure our years and our seasons
and make our appeal to the
down to the
final
standard of the
stars,
arithmetic of our minutes and seconds and the
very names of our months and days. In the modern application and practical use of
all this,
on the other hand, we owe them nothing. They never made a clock or watch, or any
like device
a merely ornamental use to-day. plan so well that
we have never
later generations to
which has more than
They gave bettered
work out the
details.
us the general
it,
but they
left
They invented
the second as a division of time but they did not measure
by it. They
did not care to try. For them, learning was the
natural right and power of the few, and the gulf between
Flow Father 'Time Got His Hour-Glass the most that was
known
in general,
known by the few and
the httle that was
was Hke the gulf between great wealth
and great poverty among ourselves. Indeed, in this age of teaching and preaching,
when
a
thought seems to need only to be born in order to be spread
abroad over the world, the instinct
among
it is
hard for us even to conceive
by which men kept
the initiated and
their learning like a secret
no impulse to make known
felt
that which they knew.
men thought and did wonderful things which
Their great are
now the common
property of us
all.
And their common
folk lived in a fashion astonishingly primitive son, in
an ignorance which certainly was weakness and
somehow have been
it alike.
And
and their
is
gone
—the body and the
there remains to us, along with
much
spirit of
of their
science, the hour-glass to symbolize that re-
lentless flight of
save;
may
bliss.
That world of theirs
art
by compari-
time which they feared but never tried to
and the quaint sun-dial
in
our gardens, a
memory
of
that worldly-wise old philosophy which counted only the shining hours.
•065 9*
CHAPTER The
Clocks
OW
Which ^l\(amed Themselves
the scene changes again, and the story
shifts
forward over the interval of a thousand
years.
As we take up the
ourselves in another world,
that ancient
of
them
The
Rome
SIX
is
life
amid a
once more,
life
life
we
as different
we have been speaking
of which
from our own
tale
find
from
as either
to-day.
ancient civilization, which
may
be traced from
through Greece, Babylon and Egypt back to the
dim dawn of history,
is
gone almost as
if it
had never been.
For there came a period when great hordes of barbarians defeated the armies, burnt the ed, leaving
cities,
and destroy-
only desolation and ruin behind them. Then
followed hundreds of years of
Ages,"
pillaged
—ages
what we
of ignorance and violence,
call
the **Dark
when mankind
was slowly struggling upwards again and was forming a
new
civilization
the point
upon the
we have now
ruins of the old. Therefore, at
reached, there are no
temples and pillared porticos and sandaled
more white
men
in
white
tunic and toga, and marble statues in green gardens; but
ever3rwhere lines,
we
find sharp roofs
and wild color
and towers, quaint out-
like a child's picture-book.
ne There are
Clocks
castles
Which Named
I'hemselves
with their moats and battlements, and
monasteries with their cloistered arches; there are knights in
armor
riding,
and lords and
ladies gorgeous in strange
garments, and monks in their dull gowns, and the sturdy
peasant working in the
and
field;
in the towns, all
among
peaked gables and Gothic windows and rough cobbled motley crowd of beggar and burgher and cour-
streets, a
tier, priest
and
clerk,
doctor and scholar and soldier and
—an
merchant and tradesman
and each
in the distinctive
endless variety of types,
costume of
his calling.
And
there are churches everywhere, from the huge cathedral
towering
like a forest of
carven stone to the humble village
chapel or wayside shrine, their spires
heaven
and
in
spirit
all
pointing up to
token of the change that has come upon the
life
of the world.
We have come from the height of the classic period suddenly into the heart of the Middle Ages; and in the dark centuries that
lie
between, Christ and His Disciples have
come and gone, and the
religion of the
Western World has
changed; the old gods have perished and the saints have filled their places.
And Rome
has died, and
Romance has
been born.
The
center of civilization has shifted to the north
and
west; from the old ring of lands around the Mediterranean to the great nations of modern Europe. Italy has
become a
jealous group of independent cities, great in art
and com-
'Time Telling Through the Ages
merce, but in
Germany is much
little else.
for the lack of some
the same, except
few score centuries of tradition. France
and Spain are already great and growing. William the Conqueror has fought and ruled and
died,
and the "Merry
England" of song and story has grown up out of the fusion of Saxon and
Norman. Chivalry and the Crusades, the
times of Ivanhoe and The Talisman, are as fresh as yesterday.
And by green hedgerows and
hospitable inns, Chaucer's
Pilgrims are plodding
onward toward the sound of Canter-
bury's bells. For here
is
there are clocks
now
thedral towers. There
the point of
all
in the monasteries is
—that
our seeking
and
in the
just one curious link of likeness
between the Middle Ages and the remoter past; as at first at Babylon, so
Ca-
now
in the fourteenth
it
was
century the
priesthood holds almost a monopoly of science and of learning.
Thus, although the sun-dial, clepsydra and sand-glass are
still
much used, we find ourselves at last
lands oi clocks. clue to
some
The very sound
its origin. It
bell.
of the
in the
time and
word "clock" gives a
suggests the striking of the hour
The French
called the
word
cloche
and the Sax-
ons clugga, and both of these originally meant a If you will put yourself
back
upon
bell.
in the picture at the begin-
ning of the chapter, you will find yourself in a realm of sounding, pealing, chiming bells with the hours of prayer
The Clocks Which
Named
'Themselves
throughout the day, from matins to angelus, rung out
from the
belfries,
the hour.
and with frequent deep-toned
Not even
a
strikings of
bHnd man could have remained un-
conscious of the passage of the hours under such conditions,
and time,
in a sense,
became more a possession of
democracy although timepieces themselves were
mark of special Life also liberate,
still
the
privilege.
was beginning to hurry
we should
call it in
just a
little.
comparison with the
of the twentieth century, and yet
it
Very de-
mad
rush
began to show
its
humanity was becoming more
growing complexity
in that
definitely organized
and men were forced to depend more
and more upon each
other. In all of this, there
was a
growing sense of the things that were to be, just as
slightly
the water for some miles above Niagara begins to hasten its
course under the influence of the mighty cataract over
which
it
will at last
go madly plunging.
Herein occurs another of those baffling questions, the old-time puzzler as to whether the hen the egg or the egg from the hen. ing to
what extent the
first
One cannot
like
came from
help wonder-
increasing accuracy of the broaden-
ing knowledge of time-keeping was the result of our compli-
cated modern tainly
life
we cannot
and to what extent
it
was the
cause. Cer-
conceive of present-day affairs as being
conducted save in the light of moving hands and figures
upon a
dial.
'Time Telling Through the Ages
From
the Middle Ages, then,
and, which
is
the
means
modern mechanical
skilful,
word
for clock
is still
principles.
They were
those medieval workmen, considering
and the ingenuity of some of
at their disposal,
their clocks
get our
more important, we begin to get some crude
application of its
wonderfully
we
a delight, but, perhaps, for better under-
standing of the story,
we
should stop for a minute to in-
what a clock means from the mechanical
quire exactly
point of view.
A clock is a machine for keeping time. And for this there are four essentials, without
be no clock.
First, there
any one of which there would
must be a motive power to make
it
run; second, there must be a means of transmitting this
power; third, there must be a regulating device to make the
mechanism move
steadily
and slowly, and keep the motive
power from running down too quickly; and, fourth, there
must be some device to mark the time and make
it
known.
In a typical modern clock the power comes from the pull of a weight or the pressure of a spring
may, of
course, be operated
air or
some other means;
known
as the
sists
by
also,
—although clocks compressed
electricity or
the regulator
is
what
is
"escapement" and the recording device con-
of the hands, the dial, and the striking mechanism.
Having stated can determine This
is
this, let
us return to the past and see
how these
principles
came to be
if
we
applied.
not altogether easy. Our forefathers were
less
'The Clocks
particular than
and speUing
Which Named Themselves
we over such
—even
trifling
questions as
names
the learned Shakespeare, long after-
ward, used several different spellings of his
own name.
Thus, when we see in the records of the period the name of "clock" or "horologe"
type
is
tell
with certainty what
meant, since "horologe" meant simply a device for
keeping time;
it
clock, clepsydra,
"It
we cannot
might have been applied equally well to a an hour-glass, or even a sun-dial.
quite possible," writes
is
M. Gubelin
Breitschmidt,
the younger, an eminent horologist of Lucerne, Switzerland, "that a large
number of the
technical inventions of
antiquity were lost during the migrations of the barbarians
and under the chaotic conditions prevailing during the
first
thousand years of Christianity, but the most perfect surviving instrument for measuring time was the water-clock,
known
as the clepsydra,
supremacy long
which was able to maintain
after the appearance of the
its
wholly me-
chanical clock, just as the beautiful manuscripts of the artist
classes
monks and laymen were favored by the cultured long after the invention of movable types for
printing.
"The spread of Christianity throughout Europe caused the foundation of severe rules
many
religious
communities, and the
by which they were governed
of prayer, labor, and refreshment to seek instruments
by which
—
—forced
fixing the
their
hours
members
to measure time. In the year
Time 605, a bull of
Telling Through the
Ages
Pope Sabinianus decreed that
all bells
be
rung seven times in the twenty-four hours, at fixed mo-
ments and regularly, and these as the seven canonical hours.
came to
trated and
ligious bodies
fixed times
The sound
became known
of the bells pene-
regulate not only the
of the re-
life
but also that of the secular people
who
lived
outside the walls of the monasteries. Oil-lamps, candles, hour-glasses, prayers
and
—
for those
—clepsydrae served
buying them
who had the means of
as chronometers for the
brotherhoods; so that one can easily imagine that a
monk
many
sought to improve these instruments. But as yet,
no one had found means to regulate the wheel-system of a
movement. In the best instruments of
this period,
water
supplied the motive power and served as well to regulate
the action."
There
is
a general belief that Gerbert, the
was the most accomplished scholar of later
became Pope Sylvester
II,
monk, who
his age,
was the one who
and who first
took
the important step of producing a real clock, and that this
occurred near the close of the tenth century
more
exact, about 990 A. D. This period
superstition,
the
air,
—or to be
was one of densest
and expectancy of the end of the world was
since
many
in
people had fixed upon the year 1000
A. D. as the date of that cataclysmic event. Authorities of the partial to invention
Church and of the and research,
&72 5*
state were not very
their attention being
Galileo Discovering the Principle of the Pendulum
As a youth
of seventeen
Galileo watched a swinging lamp,
in the Cathedral of Pisa, timed the principle iip07i
it
by his pulse, and discovered
which pendulum clocks are
built.
Time 605,
:i
bull of
Telling Through the Ages
Pope Sabinianus decreed that
all bells
be
rung seven times in the twenty-four hours, at fixed mo-
ments and regularly, and these fixed times became known
The sound
as the seven canonical hours.
came
trated and
ligious bodies
of the bells pene-
to regulate not only the
of the re-
life
who
but also that of the secular people
lived
outside the walls of the monasteries. Oil-lamps, candles, hour-glasses, prayers
and
—
for those
who had the means
of
—
buying them
clepsydrae served as chronometers for the
brotherhoods; so that one can easily imagine that a
monk
many
sought to improve these instruments. But as yet,
no one had found means to regulate the w-
movement. In the best
instruo'
supplied the motive power
vstem of a
'
'
i.
'
'
water
r';.^ulate
•
the action."
There
is
a general belief that Gerbert, the
was the most accomplished scholar of later
became Pope Sylvester
II,
monk, who
his age,
was the one who
and who first
took
the important step of producing a real clock, and that this
occurred near the ihse of the tenth century
more
superstition,
the
9'
exact, about
air,
and
since
'"
'
H
ex.
many
.
This period was one of densest /
i-
-
—or to be
of the end of the world was in
had
fixed
upon the year 1000
A. D. as the date of thai cataclysmic event. Authorities of the Chuiv h and of the state were not very partial to invention
MUJUQMH^ 3HT ^O t<^ma\
:gm^m^i
£>
and research,
HJqiQHIil^
\i^5\'iiavi5
^HT
o^Vi\K>0
their
^^f^'-'+ion
OVIIilH V038lQ
j^'ji^U^'^^'^i
\o
being
OHJIJaO
Aiwo^
xi
iK
I
The Clocks Which Named Themselves fixed largely
upon
theological, political, or military affairs;
but, of course, inquiring
and constructive minds were
still
to be found; even without encouragement these tended to follow the impulse of their natures. It is to the
monks in their cloisters that we chiefly owe the
preservation of learning through the "dark ages," and from
the monks, for the most part,
and invention
as
was made.
came such
progress of science
If Gerbert, the
monk,
after
patient tinkering with wheels and weights in his stone-
walled workshop, really achieved some form of the clockaction as
the
we know it, he was one of the
human
race. Still,
may only have
it is
great benefactors of
not impossible that his device
been a more remarkable application of the
clepsydra principle.
Whatever ties, for
it
was,
it
seems to have startled the authori-
they are said to have accused him of having prac-
ticed sorcery through league with the devil,
and to have
banished him for a time from France. His age appears to
have had a vast respect
for the intellectual
powers of
his
Satanic Majesty. Anything which was too ingenious or scientific to
be understood without an uncomfortable de-
gree of mental application diabolic inspiration
was very apt to be ascribed to
and thus found
unfit for use in "Chris-
tian" lands. It could hardly have been a stimulating at-
mosphere
for would-be inventors.
All of the credit that
we
are ascribing to Gerbert
must
Time
Telling Through the Ages
therefore be prefixed with an "if."
clock-movements, or
is
Did he
really invent the
merely another of the tales
this
which have blown down to us from
this age of tradition
romance ? For similar tales are told of Pacificus
in
and
849 A. D.
of the early Pope Sabinianus in 612 and even of Boetheus, the philosopher, as far back as 510 A. D., while always in the background are claims of priority for the Chinese are supposed to have discovered
many
who
of our most im-
portant mechanical and scientific principles
away
off
upon
the other side of the world before these were dreamed of in the west. If all of these various claims likely, it still
would not need to
remembered that humanity,
which
is
far
surprise us, for
it
must be
were
true,
from
few
until within the past
generations,was more or less a collection of separated units
and
its
records were very incomplete. There
terest in abstract research
was scant
in-
and very limited intercourse
between towns and countries; one who made an important discovery in one locality might be unheard of a hundred miles away. Unless
all
the conditions were favorable, his
ideas might even pass from
memory with
his death, until
some scholar of modern times might chance upon
their
record.
All that can with certainty be said, therefore,
is
that
there were clocks of some sort in the monasteries during
the eleventh century; that back of these were the clepsy-
^he Clocks Which Named 'Themselves drae
and other time recording devices; and that here and
there through the preceding centuries are
more or
less
be-
Hevable tales of inventions that had to do with the subject.
Let
be remembered, too, that some of the brilliant
it
minds of ancient times made discoveries that were
for-
gotten after the barbarian waves overwhelmed preceding civilizations.
The
ages following the downfall of
were those of intellectual darkness, force until
illiteracy,
Rome
and rude
mankind groped slowly back toward the
light
through the process oi rediscovery. Thus,
it
mattered not at
to the medieval world that
all
—^who,
Archimedes, the great Greek scientist and engineer however, chanced to
was
able,
live in the
Greek colony of
Sicily
somewhere about 200 B.C., to construct a system
of revolving spheres which reproduced the motion of the
heavenly bodies. Such a machine must necessarily have involved some sort of clock-work.
but this marvelous
min Franklin of
dare not stop to
we
stray too far from our sub-
man
of ancient times, the Benja-
consider Archimedes, lest ject,
We
his day,
seems to have had a hand in
almost every sort of mechanical and
from discovering the principle of
scientific research,
specific gravity, in order
to checkmate a dishonest goldsmith, to destroying
war-ships is
by means
of his scientific "engines."
told that he set the ships
on
fire
Roman
The
story
by concentrating upon
them the rays of the sun from a number of concave mir-
'Time Telling Through the Ages rors.
And, although
that he
is
known to have done
Archimedes and
when
this story
his
may
not be true, the things
are extraordinary.
knowledge had long passed away
the monastery clocks of the eleventh century began
to sound the hour.
These were the
fruit of a
civilization just struggling for expression,
the general period
when William
Norman army into England.
•^y^^-
crude
new
and represented
the Conqueror led his
CHAPTER SEVEN dModern 0ock and
l^he
WE
LEARN
Its Qreators
that toward the close of the thir-
teenth century a clock was set up in St. Paul's
Cathedral in London (1286); one in West-
by 1288; and one
minster, 1292.
The Westminster
in
Canterbury Cathedral, by
clock and the chime of bells were
put up from funds raised by a
who had
justice
fine
imposed on a chief
offended the government.
bore as an inscription the words ,
of Virgil
justitiam moniti," "Learn justice from
the bells were gambled
the
my
:
clock
^'Discite
advice," and
away by Henry VIII In the same !
century, Dante, whose wonderful (the Inferno, Purgatory
The
poem
and Paradise)
"Swan Song of the Middle Ages,"
is
the Commedia^
sometimes called
since
it
marks the
passing of the medieval times, spoke of ''wheels that
wound
their circle in
an orloge."
Chaucer speaks of a cock crowing as regularly clock in
an abbey orloge."
And
*'as
a
this shows, curiously, the *
meaning of the word,
for
by the word
Chaucer evidently meant the
bell
which struck the hour,
early
'clock,"
and, very obviously, he used the word "orloge" to indicate the clock
itself.
— 'Time Telling Through the Ages
Many of these ''clocks" had neither dials nor hands. They told time only
by striking the
hour. Sometimes in the great
tower clocks there were placed automatic figures representing
men in armor or even mere grotesque figures which,
at the right
moment, beat upon the
called "jacks o' the clock" or
specimens of them are
The
early
still
bell.
These
were
figures
"jacquemarts" and curious
in existence.
abbey clocks did not even
hour but
strike the
rang an alarm to awaken the monks for prayers. Here again, the alarm principle precedes the visible measure-
ment
of time; even now, as already noted,
we speak
of a
"clock" by the old word for "bell."
—the fourteenth
In the course of the following century clocks began to appear
which were
really
name, and of these we have authentic be found in
at Padua, Italy. Another
in England, in 1340,
And
by Peter
in 1364,
come
and
set
up
in
mains after lapse of
in 1344,
monk
now the
for the
tower of
Palais de Justice. It
February 1379, and there
five
or de
by Charles V, King of
and build a clock
is
and a half
by
of Glas-
Henry de Wieck, De Wyck,
to Paris
the royal palace, which finished
They were to
was constructed
Lightfoot, a
Vick, of Wurtemburg, was sent for
France, to
details.
many lands. One of them was built,
Giacomo Dondi
tonbury.
worthy of the
was
it still
re-
centuries, although its
present architectural surroundings were not finished until
a
much later date.
ne
Modern Clock and
Its Creators
This venerable timepiece termed by some chroniclers "the parent of modern timekeepers," was its
duty
as late as 1850.
record that
And
it is
performing
a matter of interesting
mechanism, which served to measure the
its
passage of time in the days believed to be
so
still
flat
when
the earth was generally
and when the Eastern Division of the
Roman Empire was
now
ruled from Byzantium,
still
Constantinople, has served the same purpose within the
memory
possible
association
—
it
of
men now
has one grim
living. Its bell
gave the signal for that frightful piece of
Medicean treachery, the Massacre of
Bartholomew,
St.
planned by Catherine de Medici, the mother of the King Charles IX,
when
the
armed
retainers of the
crown of
France flung themselves upon the unsuspecting Huguenots and caused the streets to run red with the blood of
men,
women and
children
—a ghastly butchery of thou-
sands of people.
As we have
seen, de Vick's clock
was neither the
made, nor among the
earliest; nor,
body any
new mechanical
however, of which its
at that time fairly
probably, did
it
em-
invention. It does,
and clearly typify the oldest
style of clock
we to-day have any accurate knowledge. Compare
description, then,with the clock
We
earliest
upon your
shelf.
think of the tall-cased "grandfather's clocks'* as
antique; but this tower-clock of de Vick's outdoes
antiquity by some four hundred years. ns
79 B-
And
its
them
most
in
inter-
Time esting feature
'Telling
has only one hand
ment
is
the
Ages
curious likeness in mechanical prin-
is its
modem times.
ciple to the clocks of it
Through
Like most eady clocks,
—the hour-hand.
ponderous move-
Its
of iron, laboriously hand-wrought; the teeth of
its
wheels and pinions were cut out one by one. It was driven
by a weight of five hundred pounds, the cord
wound round
of which
was
a drum, or barrel. This barrel carried, at one
end, a pinion, meshing with the hour-wheel, which drove
the hands; the flange at the other end of the barrel formed the great wheel, or
first
wheel of the
This meshed
train.
with a pinion on the shaft of the second wheel, and this in turn with a lantern-pinion upon the shaft of the escapewheel. All of this
is,
of course, essentially the
modem train
of gears, only with fewer wheels.
The escapement
is
mechanism, because keep time.
most
It
is
as soon as,
forward.
an
the most important part of the whole it is
the part which
makes the clock
interrupter, checking the
movement
under the urge of the mainspring,
The frequency and duration of these
determines the rate of running. Without
ment would run down
swiftly; with
it,
it
al-
starts
interruptions
this,
the move-
the operation
stretches over thirty hours, involving 4:2)2,000 interruptions.
De
Vick's escapement
is
shown
in the illustration.
The
escape-wheel was bent into the shape of a shallow pan, so that
its
toothed edge was at a right angle to the
of the wheel. Near
it
flat
was placed a verge, or rotating
part
shaft.
A 'The
Time Piece of the Middle Ages
huge and elaborate Clock of Strasbourg Cathedral, in
Lorraine,
was
built in
1352 and
is
an example of the first
clocks.
Ttmf esting feature
Telling Through the Ages
is its
ciple to the cloc cs of it
has only one
ment
1".
and
curious likeness in mechanical prin-
modem times.
Like most eariy clocks,
—the hour-hand.
ponderous move-
Its
of iron, laboriously hand-wrought; the teeth of
is
wheels and pinicns were cut out one by one.
its
was driven
It
by a weight of hvt hundred pounds, the cord of which was
wound round
a
dmm,
or barrel. This barrel carried, at one
end, a pinion, meshing with the hour-wheel, which drove the hands; the fiarsre at the other end of the barrel formed
the great wheel,
r
*
train.
with a pinion
and
-
turn w.,
i)on the shaft of
wheel. All of gears,
or:
is
as soon as,
forward.
Jeni train
is
:
mechanism, because keep time. It
this in
the escape-
essentialh
v'Tourse,
t
The escapement
most
This meshed
it is
important part of the whole
the part which makes the clock
an interrupter checking the movement ,
under the urge of the mainspring,
The frequewcy and duration of these
determines the rate of running. Without
ment would run
>wn swiftly; 'with
starts
interruptions
this,
it,
it
al-
the move-
the operation
stretches over thirtt :-ours, involving 432,000 ^nZ/frri^pizoni-.
De
Vick's escapement
is
shown
in the illustration.
The
escape-wheel was bent into the shape of a shallow pan, so that
its
toothed e4ge was at a right angle to the
of the wheel.
Near
it
flat
part
war> placed a verge, or rotating shaft,
8H0A HJaaiM 3HT;^C^ 303l4 HMiT
A
ne
Modern Clock and
Its Creators
de^ick's Qlock
GOING PART Side Uitw, ^oing
Tart
EP
P -IVindingTimon.
W -— IVnghts
B f
H
STRIKING PART Front "View
•which furniih tht mctive paver.
which tht •xeight-cord ii vouaj. —"Pinion connecting barrel with Hour Wheel. — Mour Wheel to which Hand is attached. 'Barrel abeut
-SitafieTiiiioit.
EW -Sicape Wheel. V
—IJerge, with "Pallets meshing in cagt
F
— Foliet, attached to
v>
—Shiftittg Weightsfor at^usting clock.
of Escape Wheel.
G —Qreat Wheel.
to
S —Second Wheel.
SO called from a Latin
On
this verge
pallets,
swing with
top ofTJerge so as
it.
word meaning "turning around."
were fastened two
flat
projections called
diverging from each other at about an angle of one
hundred degrees. The width between the
pallets,
from
center to center of each,
was equal to the diameter of the
wheel, so that one would
mesh with the teeth
at the top of
the escape-wheel and the other with the teeth at the
bottom.
Now,
if
the upper pallet were between the teeth at the *68l9*
'J'ime
'Through the Ages
'Telling
top of the wheel, the pressure of the wheel trying to turn
would push
it
away until
the teeth were set free. But, in so
would cause the verge to turn and bring the lower
doing,
it
pallet
between the teeth at the bottom of the wheel. And
since the
bottom of the wheel was, of
course, traveling in
the opposite direction from the top, the action would be reversed,
and the lower
pallet
would be pushed away,
bringing the upper one back between the teeth of the wheel again; and so on, *'tick-tock," the wheel
way each holding
The
it
time,
and the
from going too
device
moving a
little
pallets alternately catching
and
far.
was kept running slowly by means of a
cross-
bar called a "foliot," fastened across the top of the verge in the shape of a T, and having weights on
its
two ends.
When this weighted bar was set turning in one direction, would, of course,
resist
being suddenly stopped and started
turning the other way, as
And
it
it
was constantly made to
this furnished the regulating action
the motion of the works and kept
do.
which retarded
them from running
down.
in
This involves the principle of the
modem balance-wheel
both watches and clocks, which
that of inertia; the rim
is
of the balance-wheel represents the weights on the bar
that resist the pull of the pallets.
however,
is
A
vital
improvement,
the interception of the hair spring which gives
elasticity to the pull
and thus supplies the elements of pre-
^he Modern Clock and and refinement. The
cision
Its Creators
inertia of the balance-wheel
gauged by the weight of the rim and
and the
center;
anism
is
distance from the
its
refinement of regulation of the mech-
last
produced by moving the tiny screws on the peri-
is
phery of this wheel outward or inward.
We
shall see later
much
ciple
as quaint
the
like the
how this
old escapement
improved forms
and clumsy an
affair as
the
tion, destined to achieve great results.
of making a machine keep time. in use
to-day depends for
device.
The
tick
is
tion with a clock;
because
it
is the
the
and
first it is
And
its
first it
was
automobile or
was a great inven-
For it was the means
every clock and watch
usefulness
thing
in prin-
in use to-day. It
steam-engine. But, like them,
first
was
upon a
we think
similar
of in connec-
the most essential thing also,
escapement which does the ticking.
This old clock of de Vick's also struck the hours upon a bell
and
made
in
very
to do.
much
the same
way
as
modern
But the mechanical means by which
are too complicated to be easily described here. it is
unnecessary to do
ant.
clocks are
so, since
the bell
is
it
did so
And indeed
far less import-
A clock need not strike, but it must keep time.
On
the fearsome eve of St. Bartholomew, therefore, and
again within the past generation, the clanging of this old clock's bell
was brought about by the whirling gears and
ponderous weights of an early craftsman
work
into the ages.
who wrought
his
— 'Time 'Telling Through the Ages
As already
stated,
de Vick's mechanism embodied
mechanical principles which, although greatly developed
and improved, are employed even at the present ^ay. All
—the
the essentials of a clock are there; the motive power
descent of a massive weight spring; the train of gears
—
is
now
by which
replaced
this
by a slender
motion
is
reduced
and communicated, are cut to-day with the extreme accuracy of modern machine work; the hand moving around the dial tell
is
now accompanied by
a longer, swifter
the minutes; the escapement which
motive power while yet allowing
and regulates
retards
it
to
hand to
by checking the
move on
—even the numbered
step
by step,
striking of the
unchanging hours.
De it
Vick's old clock
may
have been a crude machine
—but
was a poor timekeeper
certainly
ancestor of
all
it
was the sturdy
those myriad tribes of clocks and watches
which warn us solemnly from our towers, chime to us from our mantels,
or, nestling
snugly in our pockets, or clinging
to our wrists, help us to maintain our efficiency in the plexities of
modern
life.
com-
The mechanism employed by de
Vick was retained without any improvement of importance in
The
all
foliot
the time-pieces of the next three hundred years.
escapement, especially, remained in use
longer. Indeed,
that
it
was
Long
much
any modern watchmaker would recognize
practically a horizontal balance-wheel.
before
it
was improved upon, watches had been -8-84^
'The
Modern Clock and
Its Creators
invented and clocks had everywhere become common. But
we
watch
shall reserve the
moment, our concern
is
with clocks alone.
of the medieval clock was
The disadvantage curacy. This
for the next chapter; for the
was due
first
to crude
its
inac-
workmanship and un-
necessary friction; but that trouble was presently overfine
and ac-
any modern. He had the
artist's
come, for the medieval mechanic could be as curate a
workman
as
personal pride and pleasure in his
skill,
and
also a great
unhurried patience, somewhat hard for us to picture in this breathless age.
At
best,
however, his work
short of the accuracy possible with
Other important
difl^iculties
fell
far
modern machinery.
were found
in the
expansion
and contraction of parts due to temperature variations, and the fact that the foliot balance was at
its
best only
when
running slowly. Altogether, then, these early clocks were easily surpassed in accuracy of timekeeping
by a
sun-dial
or a good clepsydra.
The
question arises, therefore,
why
this
newcomer
in
the field of timekeeping, should have begun to displace the earlier devices.
The
than the sun-dial; for
clock
why
one thing, people
was not yet a better timepiece
did
it
grow more common Well, .f"
like novelties.
For another, people
loved their churches and lived by the chimes of distant bells;
and the clock was by
device, whatever might be
far the
most practical striking
its faults in
keeping time. But,
'Time Telling Through the Ages
what was most important of tible of infinite
all, it
improvement and
was a machine suscepy
offering a field for endless
ingenuity. It appealed to that inborn mechanical instinct
by means
of which
mankind has wrought
his
mastery over
the world.
We have seen how de Vick*s clock contained, the germ of
all
as
it
were,
our clocks. And, moreover, the medieval
regarded machinery with profoundest awe. It
known which awakes
imagination.
We
cathedrals of his day, but the medieval
is
wonder
the unat the
knew about
ca-
thedrals; he built them. Considering their comparatively
cruder tools, lack of modern hoisting machinery, and so forth^ their architectural
even those of to-day.
On
and building
exceeded
the other hand, a locomotive or
a modern watch, such as notice,
abilities
we
glance at without special
would have appeared to him the product of sheer
sorcery, too wonderful to be the
work of human hands.
The Middle Ages could not much improve
their clock
without some radical invention; and such a mechanical type of invention was yet the province of but few minds.
The
typical craftsman could merely
make
the clock more
convenient, more decorative, and more wonderful.
work, he and
his fellows addressed
their patient skill
and
To
themselves with
this
all
of
their endless ingenuity for orna-
mentation.
They made
clocks for their churches
&869-
and public build-
Modern Clock and
jTA^
ings,
and elaborated them with
The
vices.
Its Creators
intricate mechanical de-
old "Jacks" that struck the bells were only a
They made
beginning.
nobles, adorning
clocks for their kings
them with
could design and a
all
and wealthy
the richness that an artist
skilful jeweler execute.
They made
clocks even for ordinary domestic use so quaint in design
and
so clever in
in our
the
workmanship that we exhibit them to-day
museums. One
first
invention
is
difficulty in
determining the date of
that long before the days of de Vick
and Lightfoot, machines were made to show the day of the
week and month and stars;
and the
first
to imitate the
horological records
movements of the
may
refer to clock-
words of this kind.
The famous
clock' of Strassburg Cathedral shows the
extreme to which the medieval craftsman carried
this
kind
of ingenuity. It was originally put up in 1352 and has been twice rebuilt, each time with greater elaboration. It stories high
and stands against the wall somewhat
shape of a great altar with three towers.
ments are a
celestial globe
moon, and
stars, a
dicting eclipses
its
in the
move-
showing the positions of the sun,
perpetual calendar, a device for pre-
whom
There are devices
by a
Among
three
and a procession of figures representing the
pagan gods from
moon and
is
for
the days of the
week
are
named.
showing the age and phases of the
other astronomical events.
succession of automatic figures,
The hours
are struck
and at the stroke of
Time
Through
'Telling
the
Ages
noon a cock, perched upon one of the towers,
flaps his
wings, ruffles his neck, and crows three times. This clock still
remains, having last been rebuilt in the four years 1838
to 1842.
But
osity. It
keeps no better time than a
its
chief interest
that of a mechanical curi-
is
common alarm-clock,
And in beauty as well as usefulness, it has been surpassed many times by later and simpler structures.
nor ever did.
For the
first
really
important improvement in clock
making we must pass to the century. art
The
latter
end of the sixteenth
Italian Renaissance with its great impulse to
and science has come and gone, and the march of events
has brought us well into the
modem
been discovered a century and Spain
is
is
world. America
beginning to be colonized.
trying to found a world empire
upon blood and
gold and the tortures of the Inquisition. England height of the great Elizabethan period. It
Drake and Shakespeare and
At
Sir
in Pisa.
logical
of
He was
mind, which
first
which
saw the
wonderful Italian, Galileo, was
gifted with keen eyes
left its
human thought and
the time of
is
scene. In 1564, the year in
light of day, the scarcely less
at the
awakening, a remarkable
the wonderful Englishman, Shakespeare,
born
is
Walter Raleigh.
this period of intellectual
young man steps upon the
had
impress upon so
speculation that
we
and a
many are
swift,
subjects
tempted to
stop as with Archimedes and trace his history. But, one single incident
must
suffice.
-&88^
Ring Dial
in general
Ivory and Silver
use during Sixteenth and
Folding Dial
Seventeenth Century
'German, Seventeenth Century
Universal Cube Dial German, Eighteenth Century
Ancestors of the Watch Portable
^
and pocket sun
dials in the collections of the
Metropolitan
Museum.
IfiiQ
aduO IsaiavinU
Yiovl 8sdi ^y^bjI
HOTaW HHT
10 8iIOT833MA
Modern Clock and
I'he
Its Creators
In 1581, this youth of seventeen stood in the cathedral of Pisa. Close at hand, a
swung
lamp suspended by a long chain
lazily in the air currents.
There was nothing unusual
such a sight. Millions of other eyes had seen other sus-
in
pended objects going through exactly
this
motion and had
not given the sight a second thought. At this moment,
however, a great discovery of far-reaching application
—^hung
one which was to revolutionize clock construction waiting in the
air.
Young Galileo took notice.
The lamp swung moved but
to
and
fro, to
through the great drafty structure,
—and
upon the
pressed itself
this
it
swung
faster
it
it
moved
Italian lad
—the
swing was ac-
When
slowly; the farther
became the motion;
in a consider-
was the point which im-
complished in exactly the same time. short distance,
Sometimes
fro.
Again, as a stronger breeze blew
slightly.
able arc, but always
and
in its arc
it
it
it
make
a
moved, the
moved more
accomplishing the long swing in the same time as short one. In order to
moved
it
swiftly,
did the
sure of this fact, Galileo
is
said
have timed the swinging lamp by counting the beating
to
of his pulse.
Thus was discovered the its
"isochronism."
By
principle of the
"isochronism"
in equal time. In other words,
pendulum,
is
pendulum and
we mean
inequal arcs
any swinging body, such
said to be "isochronous"
when
it
as a
describes
long or short arcs in equal lengths of time. This also applies
»e89^
'Time Telling Through the Ages
to a balance-wheel, and hair-spring.
markable fact
—
this
And
herein
lies
a re-
epoch-making discovery was after
all
but a rediscovery. The isochronism of a swinging body was
known
in
Babylon thousands of years before, although the
Babylonians, of course, could not explain application,
it
it.
Lacking
in
had passed from the minds of men, and
it
remained for Galileo to observe the long-forgotten fact and to
work out
its
mechanical application.
He
did not himself
apply this principle to clock-making, although some years later, toward the end of his
life,
fifty
he did suggest such
an application.
The 1665,
first
pendulum
clocks were probably
made about
by Christian Huyghens, the celebrated Dutch
as-
tronomer and mathematician who discovered the rings of Saturn; and by the English inventor, Doctor Robert
Hooke. The invention
is
claimed for several other
men
in
England and abroad at about the same time; but hardly
upon
sufl[icient
From
authority.
that time on, the important improvements of
clockwork were chiefly made in two directions
—those of
the mechanical perfection of the escapement and the com-
pensation for changes of temperature.
There
is
a
little
world of invention and discovery behind
the face of the clock which beats so steadily on your tel.
Look within
ism with
its
if
you
will,
toothed gears,
and
its
see the
man-
compact mechan-
coiled spring, or its swinging
-©905*
ne pendulum,
Modern Clock and
Its Creators
which the motion of the cathedral lamp
in
harnessed for your service,
merely happened
so.
—nothing
You may
in that
may
or
the action of its parts, or the technical
is
grouping has
not understand
all
names of them; but
each feature in the structure has been the result of study
and experiment, as when Huyghens hung the pendulum from a separate point and connected astride the
pendulum
to this day,
if
shaft.
You can
you care to look;
it
it
with a forked crank
see that forked
crank
was the product of good
Dutch brains. Next we come to one of the ments
in clock-work,
greatest single improve-
and the chief
difference
between the
mechanism made by de Vick and the better ones of our own time.
When the pallets in a clock are forced by an Increased
swing of the pendulum or by the form of the pallet faces against the teeth of the escape-wheel in the direction opposite to that in
which the wheel
be pushed backward a clock action this
is
made
would tend to
little
way
to back
interfere
is
moving, the wheel must
each time, and the whole
up a
little.
You can
see that
with good and regular time-
keeping. George Graham., In London, in 1690 corrected this error
by inventing the
contradicted
There are
its
dead-beat escapement
which rather
name by working very well and
faithfully.
many forms of this escapement and there is no
need to explain
it
in detail.
But the main idea Is
this
:
At the
end of each vibration or swing of the pendulum, the escape*€9iS*
^ime
Telling Through the Ages
made
teeth, instead of being
motion of the until the
pallets,
to recoil
by the downward
simply remains stationary or at rest
commencement of the
return swing of the pendu-
lum. This was brought about by applying certain curves to the acting faces of the pallets. But the acting faces of both
tooth and pallet are beveled, so that the tooth in slipping
by it
and keeps
gives the pallet a "kick" or impulse outward
in motion.
Nowadays, even a common alarm-clock has
an escapement working
in this
way.
Then came another remarkably
interesting contribu-
Have you ever wondered why
the pendulums of fine
tion.
clocks were weighted with a gridiron of alternate rods of
brass and steel ? For purpose of ornament
.?
Not
at all
—
it
constitutes a scientific solution of an embarrasing problem,
due to the inevitable variations
in temperature.
pand with heat and contract with can be made to "crawl" along a heating and
cooling
them.
cold.
flat
Metals ex-
Notched
surface
by
Bridge-builders
iron bars
alternately
sometimes
arrange sliding points, or rocking points to adjust the ferences in the length of the steel. Contraction sion are important factors in
pendulum would change
its
all
motion
length and this would interfere with urer of time.
and expan-
their calculations.
rate of
Graham worked upon
its
if it
dif-
But a
changed
its
accuracy as a meas-
this problem, too,
and
attached a jar of mercury to the rod of his pendulum for a weight.
When
the heat lengthened the rod, -0926*
it
also caused
T7t(?
Modern Clock and
the mercury to left
Its Creators
and
just as in a thermometer,
rise,
this
the "working-length" the same.
Such mercury-weighted pendulums are not uncommon to this day, but the
more
familiar gridiron
came from
the brain of John Harrison, who, in 1726, fixed the alter-
way
nate rods in such a raised the weight as
lowered
The
it.
that the expanding brass rods
much
as the expanding steel rods
Thus they neutralized each
clock as
we know
it
other.
was now
virtually complete.
There were structural refinements, but no more radical
improvements to be made. In tracing
its
development from
the fourteenth to the eighteenth century,
we note one
curious likeness to the ancient history of recorded time. In this case, as before in Babylon, the people first concerned
with the science were the astronomers, but
we note
As the medieval passed
a
after
them the
more important
difference.
priests,
still
and
into the modern, the practise of
horology passed more and more out of the hands of scientists
into the keeping of commercial
dian of time was at turer.
And
this
first
workmen. The custo-
a priest, and finally a manufac-
change was attended by a vast increase in
the general use of timepieces, and the correspondingly greater influence of time
upon society and men's way of
living.
The Middle Ages made
clocks
and watches make the age
clocks in
and watches; and
which we
live.
CHAPTER EIGHT The TVatch
that
Was Hatched from
the
"D\(uremburg Sgg*^ the second act of Shakespeare's play,
IN
Like
It,
sage, he
when Touchstone,
As You
the fool, meets Jaques, the
draws forth a sun-dial from
his
pocket and
begins to moralize upon Time.
Touchstone's dial must have looked
with a stem
like that of a
like a napkin-ring,
watch, by which to hold
it
up
edgewise toward the sun, and a tiny hole in the upper part of the ring through which a
little
sunbeam could
fall
upon
the inner surface whereon the hours were marked. This pinhole
was perhaps pierced through a
be adjusted up or
down according
which could
to the sun's position at
the time of year. In principle, therefore, of the huge dial of
slide,
it
was a miniature
Ahaz of more than two thousand years
before.
In another Shakespeare play, Twelfth Night, Malvolio gloating in imagination over his coming luxury shall
''I
when he
have married the heiress and entered upon a
wealth and
is
life
of
leisure.
frown the while," says he; "and perchance wind up
my watch, or play with my— some rich jewel."
Watch
'J'he
that
Was
Hatched from
There, in those two quotations,
meaning of the watch
"Nuremburg Egg"
the
we have
in the time of
Queen EHzabeth.
Touchstone's dial was a practical convenience tell
the whole
—a thing to
the time. Malvolio's watch was a piece of jewelry, an
ornament indicating wealth and splendor. While watches
had been well known chiefly for display
for
many
years, people
wore them
and told time by means of pocket sun-
dials.
For the
first
watches we must go back to about the year
America had been discovered, and
1500, shortly after
when the not of
great tower-clocks of de Vick and Lightfoot were
much more than
Nuremberg there
a century old. In the quaint old town lived, at that time,
one Peter Henlein,
probably a locksmith. But a locksmith, in those days,
—more
would be an expert mechanic
maker; very likely an armorer
workmanship
in
like a
modern
tool-
also; capable of that fine
metal which we
still
wonder
at in our
museums. Nuremberg was then very much a medieval city, all red-tiled roofs
and queer windows, where people
went about dressed
in trunks
and pointed shoes.
It
Grimm
s
it
was
Now, this
like
Die Meister singer, and
Fairy Tales, and pictures by
Maxfield Parrish; very that
looked
and jerkins and pointed caps
as
far
from
much like
Howard Pyle and
^'Spotless
Town," except
spotless.
you remember, there was not
until long after
any means of making clocks keep anything
^950-
like ac-
Time
Telling Through the Ages
curate time; so, instead of improving them, people com-
peted with each other in devising novel and ingenious forms. There could be no more desirable novelty than a clock small enough to stand
upon
a desk or table, or even
to be carried around. Such a clock could not well be driven
by weights. But Peter Henlein overcame that
difficulty
using for the motive power a coiled mainspring
with a ratchet, just as we
There
is
still
wound up
do to-day.
some dispute over attributing to Henlein the
credit for this invention; but at least he did the thing, it
cannot be proved that anybody did
it
"Every day," wrote Johannes Coeuleus, duces more ingenious inventions. tively
by
young man
A
—Peter Henlein—
and
before him.
in 1511, **pro-
clever
and compara-
creates
works that are
the admiration of leading mathematicians, for, out of a little
numerous wheels,
iron he constructs clocks with
which, without any impulse and in any position, indicate
time for forty hours and strike, and which can be carried in the purse as well as in the pocket."
There was, however, no invention of any such thing as
we mean by
the term watch to-day that
came complete
from the mind of any one man, but the contrivance gradually grew, in shape and structure out of the small clock which could be
the neck. It
a
bell
worn
came to be
that struck
at the belt or
on a chain round
called a watch because clock
the hours. But
many
meant
of the
first
The
Firs
I
Pocket Time Piece
In Shakespear's play, "As You Like
It,"
Touchstone
Fool, draws forth a pocket sun dial, which probably
"napkin ring'
type.
was
,
the
of the
Time curn^-
Telling Through the
Ages
n:. so, instead of improving them, people
^
com-
each other in devising novel and ingenious
.
ihere could be no more desirable novelty than a tv
small enough to stand
upon a desk or
table, or
even
to be carried around. Such a clock could not well be driven
by weights. But Peter Henlein overcame that
difficulty
using for the motive power a coiled mainspring
with a ratchet, just as we
There
is
wound up
do to-day.
some dispute over attributing to Henlein the
credit for this invcntior! it
still
by
cannot be
•.h^.M
at least he did the thing,
vbody did
j
and
before him.
it
"Every day," wro
oeuieuA, in 1511, "pro-
duces more ingenious inventions.
A
tively
clever
and compara-
— Peter Henlein—creates works that are
young man
the admiration of leading mathematicians, little
iron he constructs clocks with
for,
out of a
numerous wheels,
which, without any impulse and in any position, indicate
time for forty hours and strike, and which can be carried in the purse as well as in the pocket.*'
There was, however, no invention of any such thing as
we mean by
the rrrm watch to-day that
from the mind
came complete
y one man, but the contrivance
gradually grew, in shape and structure out of the small clock which could be
worn
at the belt or
on a chain round
the neck. It came to be called a watch because clock
a bell
that struck
the hours. But
303l4 HMlT T3[^Qp4 ^Ai
,^v^oUA-:>wo"T^
'\i\ "^^jA
wo^
1
ik''
many
8ill1 ,v:si\(^
meant
of the
first
HhT I'-va^c^i-^^siiV^
i^l
'^he
Watch
that
Was Hatched from
"Nuremburg
the
Egg**
watches had striking apparatus, and this circumstance
added to the confusion of names.
We
old-fashioned watch a turnip; but the
very fairly
much
is
how
to-day. In the
thick and heavy
hand. So
shape. Hence, they were called
something which we can really consider a
watch. Let us see
pocket. It
in
eggs.
Here, then,
it
first
compares with those that we place, being egg-shaped,
—you would not
had no
crystal
like to
carry
and only one hand
in
it
was
it
your
—the hour-
much for the outside.
Inside, the difference
all
watches were
have deserved the name. Before long, Henlein was
Nuremberg
made
first
and more old-fashioned, and might
fatter
making them oval
know
slangily call a fat,
was
still
greater.
The works were
of iron and put together with pins and rivets. It
hand-work
—expert workmanship, indeed—but look at
the works of your
own watch and
the teeth in those tiny gears, or springs with
was
files
try to imagine cutting
making those
delicate
and hammers. As pieces of hand-work-
manship, therefore, the watches made by Henlein and his followers were remarkable; but
when compared with our
modern watches, they were crude and clumsy affairs. Furthermore, they were poor timekeepers.
They had
old foliot balance running parallel to the dial. This
the
was
all
very well as long as the watch lay on the table with the balance swinging horizontally. But as soon as
it
was
car-
'Time Telling Through the Ages
perpendicular position, the arms of the balance
ried, in a
had to swing up and down, which was quite another mat-
And
ter.
at
all.
it
necessary to use
mainspring, otherwise the watch would not run
stiff
Such a spring exercised more pressure when
wound than when worst fault of the
it
was nearly run down. And
foliot
was that
it
fully
so the
speeded up under in-
creased pressure.
The
first
improvements, and, in
fact,
the only ones for
nearly two hundred years, were directed toward doing
away with thus
make
the unequal pressure of the mainspring and
the watch keep better time. If you look into the
back of a very early watch, you consisting of a curved els
may
arm ending
see a curious device
in a pinion,
which trav-
round an eccentric gear of peculiar shape. This
first
type of equalizing mechanism;
it
is
the
was invented
in
Peter Henlein's time and was called the stackfreed; but
was a clumsy device Therefore
it
at best
in carrying
it
and a great waste of power.
was gradually displaced by tht fusee.
Perhaps one might have
as
j
then, of course, the crudeness of the works pro-
duced a great deal of friction. This made a very
-,
felt
a certain
amount of
pride
about such a thick, bulging mechanical toy,
were these early watches, but, as to possessing some-
thing that would keep correct time
matter. After admiring
would have to guess
it
and
as to just
—that was a
different
listening to its ticking, one
how
•§989*
far
wrong
it
might
be.
'
The Watch
that
Was
Hatched from
the
'^Nuremburg Egg"
People did not figure closely on minutes and half minutes
day of the Nuremberg
in the
Street" and no commuting.
egg; there
And
was no "Wall
this brings us to a real
event in the whole story.
Jacob Zech, a Swiss mechanic, living at Prague in
Bohemia, Austria, about 1525, began studying the prob-
lem of the equalization of watch mechanism. He was sure that there ought to be some better means than that of the
clumsy stackfreed. Presently he
hit
upon the
the fusee, and Gruet, another Swiss, perfected
became
when ran
possible to
first
down
— and to do
it
it
it.
At
last it
a watch that would not run fast
wound and then go more and more
this time, a
now
make
principle of
this in a really practical
slowly as
it
way. Before
watch was a clumsy piece of ticking jewelry;
became something of a
real time-keeper. Therefore,
was not long before people began
These were the days when patiently in their
little
watch-part and making called "manufacturer"
skilful
home it
to
want Swiss watches.
Swiss craftsmen worked
shops,
making some
single
extremely well, while the so-
bought up these separate
parts, and
assembled them into watches.
What was the fusee that brought about such a change Not much to look at, surely merely a short cone with a
.?
—
spiral
wound
groove running about in this
it,
and a cord, or chain,
groove and fastened at the large end of the
core. Its principle
and
its
action were very simple, and that
'Time Telling Through the Ages
is
why
it
and Fusee
was a great invention. Some one has
said that
anyone can invent a complicated machine to do a piece of work, but
it
takes real brains to
that will do the
The
make
a simple machine
same work.
shaft of the fusee
was attached
to the great wheel
which drove the gears, and the other end of the cord was fastened to the mainspring barrel. This it
is
the
way in which
worked: The mainspring slowly turned the barrel;
gradually
unwound
fusee to turn.
When
this
the cord from the fusee and caused the
the fusee turned, the wheels also were
forced to turn, and the watch
was running. At the
start,
the cord would unwind from the small end where the lever-
age was least, but as the tension of the mainspring grew slowly
less,
the leverage of the cord grew slowly greater
and, consequently, the power applied to the wheels
was
always of the same degree of strength. This invention gave a great impulse to Swiss watchmaking; several centuries later
it
worked to the disadvantage of English manufac•&I00 3-
'The
Watch
The
Was
Hatched from
they continued to use
turers, for
had found
that
still
fusee
new
after other countries
it
was invented about the year 1525, at a time fairly alive
with new ideas. People in
just beginning to realize that they
on a sphere and not upon a a vast
"Nuremburg Egg"
better methods of power equaHzation.
when the world was Europe were
the
flat surface,
were living
and that there was
land on the other side of the ocean. Columbus
had crossed the Atlantic but a few years before and now explorers were
making new voyages of discovery
in
every
direction.
Printing, invented
by Gutenberg, about
was becoming common enough to be a
fore,
the world, bringing the thoughts of
men
a century bereal
power
in
before the eyes of
thousands without the slow and expensive process of handcopying.
The
first
printed copy of the Bible had
appearance and Caxton had
—
all
set
up
its
his first printing-press
within the lifetime of people then living
ing shops were being established in
people were learning to read
made
many
—and print-
places.
Many
—a thing that could be said
of very few in the Middle Ages.
They were
finding out
something about the wonderful forgotten civilization of ancient times. Everywhere people's minds were stirring.
We
call it
the time of the Renaissance, or the rebirth of
civilization,
but
in
some respects
awakening of the world
on waking looks
first
it
was more
like the
after a long sleep. Just as a person
at his clock or watch, so
-&IOI^
now
the
Time
Telling Through the Ages
world, preparing to be busy and modern, needed some better
means of telling time.
was both natural
It therefore
and necessary that the watch should have received such a great improvement as the fusee at just this period.
Then began which we
still
the age of those strange, mgenious watches find in the
were only a few
real
museums. For some time, there
improvements. Screws and brass
wheels were introduced into their construction about 1550,
and
glass crystals
occasionally; but
about 1600. The minute-hand appeared it
century afterward.
was not
And
in
common
that shows
use for nearly a
how watches were
re-
garded in those days. One would think that such an obvious advantage as that of minute-notation would have
been seized upon and utilized at once; on the contrary, people did not seem to care use of a
more
it.
What was
the
hand to mark the minutes, when the watch was
likely
For
much about
real
than not to be half an hour or so
in error.?
timekeeping there were dials everywhere, and
there were also fairly good clocks in the towers; at night,
watchmen
patrolled the streets
and
called out the hours.
These watchmen were the police of the period;
it
was part
of theirduty to call out the time, just as the modern police direct people ing, the
Made
upon the way they wish to
watch was
entirely
therefore,
it
still less
by hand,
was made
it
go.
For timekeep-
useful than the
watchman.
was necessarily expensive;
regardless of expense.
It
was
'J'he
Watch
that
Was
Hatched from
the
thought of as MalvoHo thought of It the wealth
for kings. Centuries
Egg''
—a possession showing
and station of the wearer, a
noblemen and
"Nuremburg
rich jewel, a toy for
were to pass before
real
watches were within the reach of common people. It
said that
is
Edward VI was
possess a watch. This
Mark Twain's famous
Mary Queen a skull
king,
first
who
remembered by many
a time, will be in
young
the
Englishman to
reigned so short
as the
story The Prince
young prince
and the Pauper.
of Scots had a small watch shaped like
—a cheerful fashion of the time. Many others were
shaped in the form of insects, flowers, animals, and various other objects.
Even to-day the Swiss make many watches
of curious form.
Queen Elizabeth and her court modern women do
their hats
selected watches
—to match
as
their various cos-
tumes. These watches were usually worn on a chain or ribbon round the neck and were largely for display. Several outside cases were often supplied with watches of that period,
and they were made to
fit
on over that which held
the works; these were variously ornamented with jewels, tortoise-shell
and
delicate as lace.
paintings,
intricate pierced
The
work
in gold,
almost as
covers were decorated with miniature
some of which were very
Strangely enough,
it
was
beautiful.
this practise of decorating
watches that later gave us our plain white enameled
dials,
because enamel was the best material on which to paint -tr
103
^
^ime delicately.
any
To
T'elling
the average
Through
museum
than in their mechanism.
And
the interest in
visitor,
from their
collection of old watches, aside
sociation, lies in their marvelously
Ages
the
historic as-
ornamented cases rather
in this
he very closely
peats the feeling of their original makers or owners;
it
re-
was
more important to follow fashion than to know the time. This custom of watch-decoration continued more or less
through the eighteenth century, and even into the nine-
by that
teenth, although, see,
become
time, watches had, as
excellent timepieces.
when Dresden was captured by the found
The
story
is
we
shall
told that
Prussians in 1757, they
wardrobe of Count Bruhl, the Saxon Minister,
in the
a different suit of clothes for every
had a watch,
stick,
day
in the year;
each
and snuff-box, appropriately decorated,
as part of each one.
Shakespeare never regarded a watch seriously. In Love's Labour's Lost he compares a
Qerman
woman to clock.
Still a-repairing, ever out
offrame,
A
—
century after Shakespeare's day. Doctor Johnson re-
marked that a dictionary was better than none, quite true."
like a
watch "The worst :
and the best cannot be expected to go
And Pope
says in the same vein:
'77j with our judgments as our watches
Qo just
is
alike, ^et each believes his
-eio4S-
—
own.
none
The "Nuremburg Egg," the First Real Watch ''Out of a -
*
*
little
iron,
Peter Henlein constructs clocks which
can be carried in
the pocket."
Coeleus, in 1511.
—
so wrote Johan?ies
Time idling Through ^
-
iO the average museum
.,
.
ollection of old watches, aside
:ation, Hes in their
the
Ages
visit*. i
.^i^.
interest in
from their
historic as-
marvelously ornamented cases rather
than in their mechanism.
And
he very closely
in this
peats the feeling of their original makers or owners;
it
re-
was
more important to follow fashion than to know the time. This custom of watch-decoration continued more or less
through the eighteenth century, and even into the nineteenth, although, see,
become
by that
time, watches had, as
excellent timepieces.
The
story
when Dresden was captured by the Prussians found
in the
wardrobe of Count Bruhi,
^ different suit
had
th-
and
-
..^v
shall
told that
in 1757, ^
of clothes for every day u,
a watch, stick,
is
we
they
'^'nister, v,
..
each
snuff-^^^v appropriately decorated,
as part of each one.
Shakespeare never regarded a watch seriously. In Love's Labour's Lost he compares a riA
Qerman
woman to dock.
Still a-repairing, ever out
offrame,
vjAnJ never geif/g aright, being a watch
A
—
century after Shakespeare's day. Doctor Johnson
marked that a dictionary was
h'ke
a watch:
re-
"The worst
is
better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true."
And Pope
savs in the same vein
"Tis zvitn our jujg.-.cati as our zvatches C^o just alike,
yd
—
none
each believes his own.
hotaV/ jahM t8^i1 3HT '\oo3 o^uaMH^uM" 3hT sWjA^
i^':)o\'i
?-Vyvv^U-\^o">
i^n^K^W
"v^i^S.
^ivo'v'j
"5i\ii'i\
k^
\o ii^O"
The Watch
that
Was Hatched from
"Nuremburg Egg"
the
famous character,
All of this reminds one of Dickens'
Cap'n Cuttle, whose watch was evidently of the old Readers of Dombey and Son
school.
may remember how
Captain drew Walter Into a corner, and with a great
made
that
his face
very red, pulled up the
which was so big and so tight like
In his
silver
pocket that
a bung. "Warr,'*sald the Captain, handing
shaking him heartily by the hand, "a parting
It
it
"the
effort,
watch,
came out over and
gift,
my lad.
back half an hour every morning and another quar-
Put
it
ter
toward afternoon and
it's
a watch that'll do you
credit."
The
old idea of regarding the
watch
as a trinket rather
than as a timepiece, as an expensive toy rather than as an accurate and necessary mechanism, has
come down
to us
from the days when a watch was ornamented outside, because
it
could not be really useful within. Even now. In
spite of the
modem demand for accurate timekeeping, that
attitude has not entirely died away, as
expression *'gold
watch" and
"silver
Is
shown by the
watch." Of course,
there are really no such things; there are merely gold and silver cases for steel, brass still
and nickel wsitchts. Some people
continue this mistaken idea by thinking of a watch
merely as jewelry, as a thing meant more for ornament
than for use.
•eio5S*
CHAPTER NINE How
a
Scientific
Now,
we
since
watch,
are at last well Into the story of the
We
have seen
by noting the
motions of the
Timepiece
us glance back over the road
let
traveled.
think of time
Toy "Became a
(^y^fCechanical
stars.
plans for days ahead
man
first
positions of
we have
beginning to
shadows or the
Next, we have seen him making his
by means of the changes in the moon,
then by making such division in the flow of time as the
month, the season, and the year. ing out of his savage isolated
We have seen him grow-
life in
caves and forests and
forming tribes and settlements, and have seen him coming out of the darkness of those early ages Into Mesopotamia, the
Land Between the
Rivers, where our
first
written his-
tory seems to begin.
Here, with great civilization
stars
culture,
temples, and a high degree of
we have found priests studying the
and making sun-dials and clepsydrae
the time
We
and
cities,
by shadows, sunbeams,
in order to tell
or the dropping of water.
have taken a glimpse at the wonderful people of
Greece and Rome, and have seen how, as they became
more
cultured, they found
it
necessary to have more ac-
•&1069*
Hozu a Mechanical 'Toy Became a Scientific Timepiece
means of
curate
telling time.
We
have considered the ad-
vantages and disadvantages of the sand-glass, have found
clumsy pieces of clock-work
in
church towers, getting their
running power from weights, in order to strike the
and have stood with young Galileo
when
Pisa,
a swinging lamp gave
bells,
in the Cathedral at
him the
idea of the
pendulum. Lastly,
we have
seen the
making of smaller clocks
—that
were made smaller and smaller until they could be carried as watches, in
Following
which springs were used instead of weights.
this, it
has been merely a question of improve-
ment, as one inventor after another has hit upon some idea that would do
away with
Thus we have come,
this or that difficulty.
in the
time of Shakespeare, to a
clever little contrivance that ticked beautifully but regis-
tered time rather badly; that took a long while to facture
by hand, and
afford to
buy
it,
cost so
and
much
manu-
that only the rich could
that, in consequence, people
were
proud to own, but did not take seriously as a timepiece. In
all this
thing has is
journey, covering thousands of years, one
made
itself clear
to us
not a mere mechanical story;
—the story of timepieces it is
a
human
or metal in
make mechanism, but to meet
a vital need.
One might almost say that the story of the watch watch
itself.
Men
wood
did not put together certain pieces of
order merely to
story.
is
in the
The works run and the hands move because •&107B-
of
Time
Through
'Telling
by
the mainspring, which into motion. In very
much
Ages
the
them
pressing steadily forces
the same way, the busy brains
of the inventors and the busy hands of the
workmen have
been kept active because advancing civiHzation has been like a great
and greater numbers of people, always needing to
fairs its
mainspring, always pressing upon larger af-
engagements more and more closely together, and
ways Thus,
if
ment was
It
still
an inaccurate timepiece,
its
Queen
improve-
a foregone conclusion. Brains and hands were
active; civilization is
al-
for teUing time.
the watch in the days of Shakespeare and
Elizabeth was
still
and better means
calling for better
fit
said that a
was
still
hog helped
pressing.
in the
next development; he
helped quite unconsciously by furnishing a order to understand
this,
In
bristle.
we must remember
Galileo's
swinging lamp and the pendulum that the Englishman,
Hooke, and the Hollander, Huyghens, applied
in the
mak-
ing of clocks. It will be recalled that a
pendulum swings
arcs of different lengths in exactly the
same time and that
this
property
is
Huyghens could would be quite
called
isochronism.
in
Both Hooke and
see that the application of isochronism
as valuable in a
watch as
in a clock,
but
they realized that this could not be accomplished by means of the pendulum. Therefore, each began to experiment,
and each seems to have stitute for the
hit
pendulum
in
upon the same idea
as a sub-
about the year 1665.
Hozv a Mechanical Toy Became a This
is
was made
where the hog's
it
it
swung
came
bristle
and
to
acted as a spring; in fact,
Timepiece
into use.
One end
was bent back and forth by
fast while the other
the balance, as
Scientific
its
Being short and
fro.
stiff,
motion was something
like
the swing of a small pendulum, and some people incorrectly claim that the this use of a hair.
name
of hairspring
Of course,
if
a
it
in the
was
it
much
and obviously the only way
was by making
came from
a very fine steel was soon sub-
stituted for the bristle. Next,
would be an advantage
first
in
longer spring were used,
which
form of a
delicate, coiled hair-spring,
realized that there
as
and so we have the
coil,
it
be done
this could
found in our own
is
watches to-day.
The
principle of the hair-spring
is
not unlike that of the
pendulum:, the farther the pendulum the lowest point of gets
it
the greater
its arc,
back; and the farther a spring
tion of rest, the greater
With both of these
is
is
is
swung out from is
the force that
bent from
its
the force exerted to get
devices
it is
it
posi-
back.
possible to obtain regular
beats and steady motion. It
is
hard to
realize that nearly a
hundred years must
have passed by before the hair-spring came into use.
To-day any new device
is
common
described in catalogs, writ-
ten up in the papers, manufactured in quantities and
is
quickly carried by travelers into every country, but in those days everything was
still
made by hand,
•01095-
piece
by
T'ime Telling Through the Ages piece,
and there was comparatively
admit of
its
Ideas
distribution.
LeRoy
slowly. In fact, Julien
isochronism and announced
it
travel that
made
their
would
way very
rediscovered the principle of
with a good deal of pride,
it
quite ignorant of the fact that
plained
little
Hooke and Huyghens
nearly a century before.
And
ex-
so the hair-spring
was slowly adopted by English watchmakers with a number of minor improvements.
Other inventors, of whom presently we
shall
hear more,
worked out better methods of escapement, and the watch
movement developed became
slowly toward
possible to tell time
its
present form. It
more accurately and to make
arrangements and plans more closely as the watch became a better time-keeper.
The pace
of life
was speeding up, and
people were realizing the value of minutes
—even of
sec-
onds. Therefore the minute- and second-hands were added to the hour-hand that so long
watch-dial.
And
had moved alone around the
in 1704, Nicholas Facio, a Swiss
doing
business in London, introduced jeweled bearings into the
mechanism.
The importance the present day.
of jewels
is
Many people
often misunderstood even at
do not know why jewels are
used in a watch, assuming that they are intended for
ornament or
in
some way to increase the value. But most
of the jewels in a watch-movement are placed out of sight;
and, although they often consist of real rubies or sap-eiios-
How
a Mechanical 'Toy Became a Scientific 'Timepiece
phires,
they are so tiny and their intrinsic value so small
that no watch requires
They
jewels.
more than one
dollar's
worth of
are strictly utilitarian in their purpose.
A
pivot or bearing, running in a hole drilled in a jewel, creates
almost no friction and requires so
drop as big as a pinhead
is
enough
little oil
that a single
an entire watch. Be-
for
cause jewels are so hard and smooth, a watch with jeweled bearings runs better and wears less and requires less power to drive
than one
it,
During
all
civilization
in
which they are lacking.
the time recounted, the great mainspring of
had been
pressing,
ever pressing. Nothing
could be considered **good enough"
improve
to
At
last
if
a
way could be found
it.
an improvement came out of the
sea.
Travel had
been reaching out in every direction; ships were
by
scores to take goods
fitted
out
from England or the continent of
Europe to lands across the seas and to bring back the products of these countries.
The time had
been, but a few generations earlier,
when
people had stood on the shores of the ocean and had won-
dered what might
lie
beyond
That water
their sight.
stretched out to the "edge of the world" they
felt sure,
what there happened
Surely,
ever,
it
to
it
they could not
must be peopled with monsters and demons.
foolhardy to venture too far from land. realize
tell.
what a
piece of insane rashness
it
We
but
how-
It
was
can hardly
must have seemed
^,
Time to most people
'Telling
Through
when Columbus
vast mystery, nor
how
the
Ages
sailed out boldly into this
the world was thrilled
when he
brought back word of strange lands and strange peoples he had found beyond the horizon.
But by the time now reached
become highways of
draw those
make
trade,
we
looked had they been
our story the oceans had
and men were beginning to
maps of
the continents, which
stop to think
how maps might have
strange, crude
us smile until
in
left for
us to make.
At
all
problems involved in navigation were being
events, the
much
dis-
cussed in every land.
One
of the greatest of these problems
was to discover the
whereabouts of the ship at any given time.
When one is out
of sight of land the sense of location necessarily becomes inoperative; one
wave
looks like another, and there are
winds and currents which might carry a ship hundreds of miles out of
knowing
its
its
course unless there were some
true position.
compass gave help position.
How
That sounds
first,
this
be done
?
of
the stars, and later the
in giving direction but not in
might
way in which the
At
way
showing
There was no possible
element of telling time did not enter.
a bit strange until one stops to think of the
rotation of the earth once in twenty-four hours. If one
could travel around the earth, from east to west, at a uni-
form clocks
rate in exactly twenty-four hours, he
would
find
and watches indicating the exact minute he started
in
urum Bartholomew Newsom London, 1565
Nuremburg, before 1561 One of the Oldest Watches in
Existence
normous Repeater Watch Newsom, London, ii;6s,c;-
Large Brass Table Clock Dutch, Seventeenth Century
*4
First Forms of the
Types of
table clocks
In
and two
Watch
of the oldest watches in existence
the collections of the
Metropolitan
Museum.
yd AoolO sMbT mozwaH wamoIoHnB^ jdji
,nobnoJ
t98B0 baqfiriS-mmQ ni odji aio'lad ,§iudm3iuVl
zaHoifiW jaablO
ari?
aonsJaixS ni
HdibW i3J£9q3^ 2uormon3 jdji ,noLnoJ ^moawaVT
ilooO aldsT 88Bl9 3§ibJ
HDTaV/ HHT ^O
8MJIo'5 T8ill1
lo
anO
How
a Mechanical 'Toy Became a Scientific 'Timepiece
and the sun would remain
at every step of his journey;
steadily at the
same height above the horizon,
he always
if
kept to one parallel of latitude. His rate of speed would
have to be about eighteen miles a minute,
if
travel along the equator, or to state this
same thing
another way,
when
in Chicago, 10 A. cisco;
it is
M.
also 1 P.
Atlantic; 2 P.
M.
noon
it is
still
several
of the twenty-four-hour
it is
day
that indicates each of these
Therefore,
point,
had
if
at the
moments
it
in
11 A.
M.
San Fran-
M.
in
London;
some one of all the moments
you could
and could compare
left,
it is
in
hundred miles out into the
farther out; 5 P.
and so on. In other words,
points.
York,
Denver and 9 A. M.
in
M.
New
in
he chose to
same
time,
but
the time
is different at different
find out the time at
any
with the time at the place you
you would know just how far
east or west
you had
come, but not how far north or south. Ascertaining the time was not
be shown by the sun. Nor was
difficult; at
it difficult
noon
to
it
would
compare the
time provided one had an accurate timepiece, but a watch that ran either fast or slow might mislead one of miles. tors
You can
see
how important
it
by hundreds
was that naviga-
have some means of exactly measuring time. This was
one of the points at which the great mainspring of civilization pressed hardest
upon the brains of inventors and the
hands of workmen. So,
from the sixteenth century onward, the leading gov*8-ii3S*
'Time 'Telling 'Through the Ages
ernments of Europe offered large rewards
chronom-
for a
eter sufficiently accurate to determine longitude at sea. In
England, Parliament offered twenty thousand pounds, or
one hundred thousand
dollars, for a time-keeper
which,
throughout a voyage to the West Indies, would give the longitude within thirty miles. This meant that
it
must keep
time within a minute a month, or two seconds a day. Both
Huyghens and Hooke somewhat naively attempted
make
a
pendulum clock keep time
action of a
pendulum while
The problem was clock tion
is
made
a ship
at sea
was
;
but imagine the
rolling
and tossing
one for the watchmaker, since a
really
for keeping time while standing in
and a watch
to
one posi-
for keeping time while being
moved
about. John Harrison, the inventor of the famous gridiron pendulum, finally after several trials
and
won
the munificent prize. In 1762,
failures,
he succeeded in producing
a timepiece which varied, under test, only a minute and four seconds during a voyage of some five months. This
was it
—
excellent timekeeping
made
it
far within half a second a day;
possible for a captain at sea to determine his
position within eighteen miles. Harrison's
mechanism was
too complicated for description in these pages. Indeed,
was
so difficult of comprehension that, before paying
his reward, the English
it
him
government asked Harrison to
write a book of explanation in order that his inventions
might be copied by other makers. He did so and
*&ii4^
finally
How
a Mechanical 'Toy Became a Scientific Timepiece
now been
received the money. Harrison's ideas have greatly simpHfied, but, in general, his plan
making of marine chronometers to sense,
this
is
used in the
day; thus, in a
due to Harrison's brain that our great ships are
it is
able to cross the ocean on almost schedule time.
Both the efforts
success of the chronometer
first
toward improving
it
It
was
in the
improve-
final
days of the American Revolution.
at this latter period that a
Mudge worked
man named Thomas
out the kind of escapement that
used in our watches.
later
had a great influence upon the
next few generations of watchmakers; the
ments were made
and the
A
little
later,
is
the Swiss-Parisian,
Abraham Louis
Breguet, improved the hair-spring
bending
coil across
outer
its
fastening
it
still
by
the others to their center and
at that point in order that the spiral of the
spring should expand equally in
all
from the
directions
center.
The
last
away with
development of importance consisted the fusee.
The
faults of this device
need of a thick watch to give
it
in doing
had been the
room, and the danger that
a broken mainspring might destroy other parts of the
movement
in its recoil.
reduced the friction until
French and Swiss watchmakers it
needed very
little
power to run
the mechanism, and then were able to employ a mainspring
which was not
stiff
makers adopted
enough to require a
this idea,
fusee.
American
but the British clung to the
^j
^ime fusee
and the
prestige as
stiff
Telling 'Through the
spring;
it
Ages
has cost them
much
of their
watchmakers and much of their trade.
Thus, the mechanism of both clocks and watches was practically in its present state
by the year 1800. The
*'grandfather's clock" of that date
but
it tells
may look old-fashioned,
time a modern way, and the mechanical ideas
in
George Washington's watch were not so very different
from those which we
find in our
many small improvements had It
all is
since,
own. There have been
but the great inventions
been made. interesting to
remember that most of these inven-
tions are due to the English artisans of the seventeenth
and
eighteenth centuries, although in delicate workmanship
and beautiful decoration, they were equaled and perhaps excelled
by the Swiss and by the French. The work of pro-
ducing a satisfactory timekeeping machine, begun by priests
and by astronomers, and carried forward by the
demands of the navigator and the patient labor of the craftsman, had ended after thousands of years, in triumph.
The
ticking contrivance of wheels, levers,
no longer a mechanical toy;
which was made by
was almost
it
man with
as accurate in
its
and springs was
was a marvelous instrument his
head and hands and yet
action as the sun and stars
themselves.
Here ends the tific
first
great division of our story.
The
scien-
problem had been solved; what remained was to -eii6B*
How
a Mechanical T'oy Became a
Scientific 'timepiece
democratize the keeping of time; to place mechanism equal to the best of those days within the reach
means of every man. In
this later
was to pass out of the hands of
and within the
development the work
artists
and inventors Into
those of manufacturers. Its history from this point on longer a record of science but a romance of Industry.
•&ii7^
is
no
CHAPTER TEN 'The
"Worshipful
Qompany''''
and
6nglish IVatchmaking
FROM
the beginning, there are two sides to the
The
history of timekeeping.
discovery and invention
first is
the story of
—how men
labored for
thousands of years to produce a contrivance that would really tell the time.
But
existed in the world,
it
humanity
In general,
if
only a few such machines
would be of very
now
watches came to be made in sufficiently
use to
however perfect each might
Accordingly history must
and at
little
recount
how
be.
clocks and
sufficiently large
numbers
low cost to be within the reach of
all
who needed them. The
turning-point from the Inventive to the Industrial
side of the
development was reached about the year 1800.
Timekeeping has always been a part of history, and history a part of timekeeping, and this opening of the nineteenth
century was a period when history the progress of civilization tain road; one
no
higher.
is like
Itself
was changing,
for
a journey over a moun-
must needs turn occasionally or one can
The American Revolution had ended but
rise
a few
years before, and the thinly settled states were trying the
•&118S*
'^he ^''Worshipful
Company^' and English Watchmaking
strange experiment of having the people govern themselves
without a king. In the old world, the people of France had
suddenly risen up and seized the power from a bloody struggle nobility
had ensued
and
which many of the old
had been beheaded. In England, the power of the
throne was growing greater. In fact, the
more
in
their king,
filled
less
and the power of the people
whole world was becoming more and
with democratic ideas and ideals than ever
before.
Now,
this
same democratic idea that
set
up republics
was getting ready to put a watch into every man's pocket.
At
first,
told
it
everyone had told the time for himself, and had
badly.
Now,
after thousands of years,
it
had come
about that a few had the means of telling time accurately.
The great inventors mentioned
in the last
contributed one idea after another, until,
few chapters had
among them
all
they had worked out clocks and watches that would keep correct time. in form,
But these timepieces were not yet convenient
and they certainly were not yet convenient
price for the average
man. They
still
were made by hand
in in
small quantities, and such a condition would have to be
changed before time and to
it
would be possible
for everyone to tell the
tell it well.
Naturally, the industrial and business development of
watchmaking began long before 1800, long the time at which the inventions were
all
before, indeed,
complete. For
'Time Telling Through the Ages centuries the industrial,
clearness,
two
sides of the story, the inventive
had progressed
we have
order to see
upon
its
by
side,
first.
Now we
to the time of Shakespeare,
modern inventions was
how
but for the sake of
described the inventions
must glance back again the period of
side
and the
when
just beginning, in
the business side of watchmaking started
growth.
Four nations have been concerned
— England,
France, Switzerland, and the United States.
The English worked
in
another; the Swiss, in
took up the
development
in this
final
was thoroughly
one way; the French worked in
still
another; while the Americans
organization of the
work
in a
manner that
typical of their peculiar genius.
The mechanical improvements and
inventions were
mostly made, as we know, by the English. But for the beginnings of the watch industry in England one must go
back to a time before the days of Hooke and Huyghens, to the year 1627, the year of incorporation of the Worshipful Clock-makers,
chosen to-day!
Company. Imagine such a name being
The Worshipful Clock-makers' Company
was the
original trade-organization of the business in
land. It
was not
at all like our
Eng-
modern companies but was
one of those great trade "guilds" which played such an important part
in the
development of European industry.
People sometimes think of the medieval trade-guild as
something
like the
modern trade-union, but
e 1 20 s-
this is a mis-
gi;
Shell
Cross Shaped
Shaped
Rock Crystal Watch
Rock Crystal Watch
French
French
Book Shaped Swiss Watch 15601600
When Watches Were Watches of
the
Jewels
Sixteenth Century, with but one hand,
pierced metal or rock crystal cases.
Metropolitan
In
and
the collections of the
Museum.
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baqfiriS iIoo3
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The "Worshipful Company" and English Watchmaking take;
it
might
was
in
many ways
call it a sort
manufacturing
quite different. Perhaps one
of a cross between a labor-union and a
trust.
Within a certain
district,
all
who
were occupied in a particular business were required to belong to the guild; otherwise they were not allowed to do business, try.
and the
''district"
might include the whole coun-
In order to gain an idea of a guild, imagine in this
country a single association of jewelers to which everyone connected with the jewelry business was forced to belong,
whether he were manufacturer or
retailer,
employee, the head of his firm or the last the counter. Or, to look at trust controlling the all
the
it
in
employer, or
new
clerk behind
another way, imagine a
whole industry and a union including
workmen under a closed-shop
system, and then sup-
pose that the trust and the union were one and the same.
That would be
like
one of the great medieval guilds.
It
was
easy for such an organization to create a monopoly of the entire national product.
Sometimes the guild would forbid the importation of foreign goods
and would not permit workmen to come from
other countries. It usually regulated, to some extent, the conditions of wages and labor. It fixed quality of the product;
if
its
own standards of
goods did not come up to this
standard, they might not be sold, and the rules of the guild
had practically the force of law. But
it
did not attempt to
control prices, nor to limit the quantity of production, nor
'Time 'Telling Through the Ages to interfere, except very indirectly, with free competition
among
its
Thus, a
own members.
it
company
was at
not, in our
all,
modern
sense of the conception,
but an association of independent manu-
facturers or tradesmen, each in business for himself, each in competition
with
his fellow craftsmen,
a tolerably even footing
by
and
limiting the
all
kept upon
amount of labor
that each one might employ. Its
members were the master
craftsmen, each the head of his
own
house; through them
were associated the journeymen, or their employ,
skilled
and the apprentices. These
to be masters, in business for themselves.
workmen
latter
might
rise
But no one with-
out such a connection could engage in the business at in
in
all,
any capacity whatever.
The Worshipful Clock-makers' Company, under charter granted for the
by Charles
I,
had the power to make
rules
government of all persons following the trade with-
in ten miles of
London, and
throughout the kingdom.
for regulating the
structor of horologes to His
and
is
trade
Its first master, or president,
David Ramsay, who was mentioned
I,"
its
was
as having been "con-
Most Sacred Majesty, James
one of the characters in Scott's novel ''The
Fortunes of Nigel.'" Its wardens or executives were Henry Archer, John Willowe, and
Sampson Shelton; and
there
was, besides, a fellowship, or board of directors.
The com-
pany proceeded
"making,
at once to forbid all persons
-§122 5*
\
''Worshipful Company'* and English Watchmaking
'T'h^
buying, selling, transporting, and importing any bad, deceitful clocks, watches, larums, sun-dials or cases for the
said trade,"
destroy
all
and
full
power to search
such inferior goods,
*'or
for, confiscate
cause
them
and
to be
amended." This company limited the volume of business by forbidding any one master to employ more than two apprentices at
one time without express permission; and, since
journeymen must ticeship, this
first
all
pass through the stage of appren-
tended to keep up wages by limiting the labor
supply and to keep competition on a
fair basis.
The
coat of
arms of the company represented a clock surmounted by a crown, the feet resting
upon the backs of four
upon a black ground; on
gold,
of Father
Time and
lions, all of
either side were the figures
of a king in royal robes; and the motto
beneath read: Tevipus Imperator Rerum, or "Time, the
Emperor of Things." These matters sound rather quaint us,
but perhaps the quaintest of them
monopoly concerning
itself so jealously
all is
to
the idea of a
with the quality of
the product, and letting prices and competition practically alone. It
was under such conditions that the English work was
done and the inventions made. Huyghens was, of course, not an Englishman; and
and a selves
scientist
made
Hooke was
rather an inventor
than a manufacturer. Both these
clocks
men them-
and watches, but they made them only
I
'Time Telling Through the Ages as instruments to assist
them
working-models of their design.
in their researches, or as It
was often
said of
Hooke
that he never cared to develop an invention after he
proved that
it
would work. But once these
had been adopted, the
real
first
had
inventions
production of timepieces was in
the hands of the Clock-makers'
Company, and the
great
names were those of clock-makers. These were the days when the leaders of the industry
worked with
their
own hands
as well as with their heads.
We may imagine the master seated in the front room of his shop studying over a new model, or putting together and decorating one already made; or, perhaps, making with his
own hands some
of the most delicate parts.
From
rooms would come the sound of tapping or
the back
filing as
the
journeymen and apprentices were hard at work upon their various tasks. Meanwhile, perhaps some apprentice, standing outside the door, would call out to passers-by and urge
them
to step in
and buy. This was a favorite form of ad-
vertising in that time. For that matter,
we
still
have our
"barkers" and "pullers-in" at Coney Island and elsewhere.
Everything about the small business was carried out under the personal direction of the master and, where necessary,
by
his
own hand. The
phrase "clockmaker to the King'*
meant something more when applied
to such a
man
than
merely that royalty had purchased some product of his craft.
^he "PForshipful Company'^ and English Watchmaking Such a one was Thomas Tompion, often called "the father of English watchmaking."
and
craft in the time of Charles II else,
He was he,
more than anyone
worked out the inventions of Hooke
facture.
He
left his father's
the leader of his
for actual
manu-
blacksmith shop to become a
clock-maker, from this he went on to the more delicate
work of making watches, and ter of his guild. It
at last
may fairly be
became a famous mas-
said of
him that he
set the
time for history in his day, for most of the royalty and great
men
to battles
of Europe timed
all
their doings
from banquets
by Tompion watches.
Meanwhile, he, too, was making watchmaking history
by
his
improvements. Tompion made watches with hair-
springs, balance-wheels
and escapements with various im-
provements. His design of the regulator
modern
use. His cases, too,
is
nearly that in
were as famous as the move-
ments that he made. The so-called "pendulum watches" were then much in fashion, and Tompion met the demand
by making a number of them. They did
not, of course, work
with a pendulum; but one arm of the old
foliot
balance
could be seen through an opening in the case or dial, and
looked like a pendulum swinging to and
fro.
To
advertisements of that day one would think that
read the all lost
or
stolen watches were of Tompion's making, so often does his
name appear in them.
Many legendary stories are told about
Tompion's work.
T'ime 'Telling Through the Ages It
has been set
down
in cold print that
one of his watches to Philip
II of Spain,
Queen Mary gave and that he made
watches for Queen Elizabeth. Unfortunately for such stories,
both
Tompion was not born
Mary and
by which time
until 1638,
Elizabeth had been dead for some years.
But though the legends themselves
are untrue, yet they do
shed some light upon their subject, for such false, are
that
stories, true or
not told about unimportant men.
Tompion grew so
And
it is
true
celebrated that at his death, in 1713,
he was buried in Westminster Abbey, where only the great
may have resting-places. Another famous watchmaker was George Graham, the
He
first
was Tompion's
and at
last
became a
inventor of the mercury pendulum.
journeyman, then
his partner,
known astronomer, having become interested
in
well-
astronomy
through making astronomical clocks. But his great contribution was the invention of the dead-heat escapement, which, in one form or another, clocks
is
in use in all the best
and watches of the present time, and which has had
more to do with making any other improvement
their accuracy possible
than has
since the discovery of the isoch-
ronism of the pendulum and hair-springs. Graham, is
buried in Westminster Abbey; his body
lies
also,
beside that
of Tompion, his teacher and friend.
Another famous devise the
figure
mechanism
was Daniel Quare, the
for driving the
two hands
as
first
to
we have
"Worshipful Company^' and English Watchmaking
'The
it
to-day.
Quare was a Quaker, and was no
in the Society of Friends
than
less
in his business.
prominent
As a Quaker,
he was opposed to taking an oath of any kind, and was
what we now
a "conscientious objector" to warfare.
call
Therefore, at the same time that he was being honored
royalty for his work, he his refusal to
pay taxes
was being prosecuted and for the support of the
the Established Church. to
King George
I,
When
means had
he was
by
fined for
army and
of
made clock-maker
to be devised for excusing
him from taking the oath of allegiance. It
was Quare who originated the
practise of giving to
each watch a serial number, so that identified.
also
This
is,
of course, a
it
common custom
and Quare's device of numbering watch-
movements may very Still
well have given the start to
and
who between them developed and
perfected the marine chronometer that
chapter; and
really
all this.
other famous watchmakers were Harrison
Arnold and Earnshaw,
first
with us; we
number automobiles, and many other manufactured
articles of value,
last
could always be
we
discussed in the
Mudge, in whose hands watch-movements
became modern
in type.
of producing reliable
Men
of this kind thought
work which would give
service;
ornaments, curiosities of workmanship, and even convenience, were secondary.
Some of
these
men were
ex-
tremely independent; for example, Arnold, in his early
days and by
way
of establishing a reputation,
*&i27e*
made
a re-
'Time Telling Through the Ages
peating watch that
it
less
was worn
than a half-inch
in
diameter
—so small
but when King George III
set in a ring;
had bought the masterpiece, and the Empress of Russia offered one thousand guineas (more than five thousand dollars) for a duplicate,
Arnold coolly excused himself on
the plea that he desired the specimen to remain unique.
Time passed; machinery began
to be
ufacturing and hand-work declined.
every
line slowly
employed
The
in
man-
guild system in
changed into our modern organized
in-
dustry. This
was only natural,
larger, their
output was increasing and the head of the
business
was no longer
for factories
likely to be himself a
man. The greater part of
as regards
land, the substitution never
dog quality
in the
fast to his ideas.
took
and was primarily owing,
to the increased use of machine-power
But
master work-
this change, of course,
place in the nineteenth century,
in transportation.
were becoming
and improvement"
watchmaking
in
Eng-
became complete, forthebull-j
Englishman has always made him
hol(
Habits died hard, and the old methods
were changed slowly and under protest, even when
thest
changes spelled progress.
At
first,
man and
as
we have
seen, the
watch was the work of one!
of his assistants, and was almost entirely hand-j
made. In those days, the trade was supplied by a multitude of small independent manufacturers. single
To make
ai
watch might take weeks or months; and every onej *&I28B-
Late
—In
Spite of His
The gallant of Colonial times
Two Watches
often carried two watches, as
the fashion, but often they
were both unreliable.
was
/
.-
,
.>
Through
than a half-inch a ring; but
.jrn set in
the
in
Ages
diameter
when King George
one thousand guineas (more than
iu>llars) for
III
the masterpiece, and the Empress of Russia
.j.^.it
rf^red
—so small thousand
five
a duplicate, Arnold coolly excused himself on
the plea that he desired the specimen to remain unique.
Time
passed; machinery began to be employed in
ufacturing and hand-work declined.
The
man-
guild system in
every line slowly changed into our modern organized
in-
dustry. This
was only
In^eer, their
output was increasing and the head of the
...
natural, for factories were becoming
mess was no longer
likely to be himself a
man. The greater part of
this change, of course,
place in the nineteenth century, to the increased use of in
transportation.
But
in the
fast to his ideas.
took
and was primarily owing
machine-power and improvement as regards
land, the substitution never
dog quality
master work-
watchmaking
became complete,
in
Eng-
for the bull-
Englishman has always made him hold Habits died hard, and the old methods
were changed slowly and
>'n'^-- protest,
even when these
changes spelled progress.
At
first,
man and
as
we have
seen, the
watch was the work of one
of his assistants, and was almost entirely hand-
made. In those days, the trade was supplied by a multitude of small independent manufacturers. sinp^le
watch might take weeks or month?-
83H0TaW OwT 8iH 30
."^\dsiV\'^'vsviJ
Aio<\ ^-v^vis
v^"^i\\
3Tiq2
r^"^i\o
U^d
V[\
To make
ar;d
every one
— 3TaJ
,i^o'n\iR>\
a
"ii\i
ne
^'Worshipful Company'' and English Watchmaking
must be made separately and patiently, regardless of labor or expense. So long as this
method could hold
own, the English watchmakers
led
the
world;
its
their
watches were good, but they certainly were not cheap. After a time, other countries began to use more modern
methods, and English watches could no longer stand competition in the world's markets.
quality
still
However, the bulldog
held; English manufacturers preferred to lose
ground rather than change their methods. The introduction of tives
machinery and the employment of
women
opera-
were each bitterly opposed. Factory production was
never adopted on a large scale, nor was there
much com-
bination of small independent manufacturers. Necessarily,
come
these things did, at last, edly,
and without much
there were
to be done; but half-heart-
success.
some forty small
At one time,
factories
for example,
making various parts
which each watch manufacturer assembled and adjusted for himself.
The Clock-makers' Company though now, of course, the ordinary
modern
it
is
still
in existence; al-
has developed into a society like
Under
association of manufacturers.
pressure of change and competition, English manufacturers were compelled unwillingly to change their
system
of production, but the character of the watches they would
not change.
The same country which had made
of the mechanical inventions finally settled
•§1299*
down
so
many
into sat-
*Time 'Celling 'Through the Ages isfaction with its
continuing to
models at a time when other nations were
make improvements,
as, for
example, when
they clung to the fusee after watchmakers abroad had
found a better substitute.
The English watch has remained heavy, reliable; it is
by
British methods.
called for
the law. in the
made
cheaply, least of
There has been something
nate in the maker's attitude;
mand
and
an excellent mechanism produced regardless
of expense. Such a watch cannot be all
substantial,
something
if
obsti-
the law of supply and de-
different, so
The English have been slow
much
the worse for
to see the possibilities
cheap watch. They have not realized that a watch
need not be expensive started to
in order to
keep good time. They
put the watch into universal use, but
other nations the completion of the process.
•01303*
left
to
CHAPTER ELEVEN What Happened in
France and
Switzerland |4
/
^
CROSS
^
different character.
A-
ities in
the English Channel lives a race of a very
The French
highly adaptable minds; often they see possibil-
the inventions of other nations which those other
nations have failed themselves to see. first
made
veloped
clumsy
are people of
it
United States, but the French soon de-
in the
into something that
cars,
was better than our early
and we were years
Wright Brothers
The automobile was
first
in
The
overtaking them.
learned the secret of aerial flight, and
then Wilbur Wright sailed for France, where the people
went wild with enthusiasm over the idea of flying; France that aviation really became what
The French have always been ished
workmen.
It
something
artistic
timepieces.
They
was
to,
Nobody
still
in
to-day.
mechanics and
fin-
be expected that they would do
could not
could
make
a better watch than the
toward the end of the eighteenth
—but
they could make
beautiful. In Shakespeare's time
watches were
was
and interesting with the manufacture of
British were turning out
century.
fine
it is
it
more valuable *&i3i
£u
as
it
more
and afterward, while works of
art
than they
'Time 'Telling Through the Ages
could be as timepieces, the richest work of this nature was
There watches were made
in the
form of
mandoHns and other musical instruments,
in the
form of
done
in France.
flowers, in the
form of jeweled
butterflies,
and
in
wonderful
painted and enameled and engraved. In the
cases,
Morgan
Pierpont of Art,
collection in the Metropolitan
New York,
there
J.
Museum
a watch which, in 1800, on the
is
fete-day after the battle of Marengo, Napoleon Bona-
parte gave to Murat,
of his generals.
On
who was
his brother-in-law
the back cover of this watch appears a
miniature portrait of Napoleon himself. self
and one
was the author of the
gift,
one
represented the Great Emperor's
And
since he him-
may assume
own
that
it
conception of him-
self.
The first
wrist-watch, to-day a military necessity, was at
a French idea. It
is
merchants and makers of
own time
called neither
toymen. There again
is
interesting to learn that the this
kind of work were in their
watchmakers nor
horologists, but
shown the old idea about watches;
they were not timepieces but toys. Later on, toward the end of the period of invention,
when
first,
become
the clock, and soon afterward, the watch, had
fairly accurate timekeepers, the
French makers
again took the lead in the same way; once more they beautified
what they could not
practically improve.
clocks of the period of Louis
XIV
*&I32S*
and
The French
his successors are
What Happened
in France
celebrated for their design.
and Switzerland
One might
easily suppose,
from
an examination of the great modern collections of rare and precious watches in our
museums that the French had been
the leading watchmakers of the world, for the specimens there found being selected chiefly for beauty or value from
the collector's point of view, are oftener of French than of
any other make. Yet
must not be supposed that the
it
French made no inventions. The credit for some of the important improvements
disputed between the English,
is
French and Swiss, and
it
is
not always easy to decide
which nation has the better claim. Furthermore, certain of the French watchmakers
came from Switzerland while
various times, some of those in France especially during the reign of Terror.
moved
The
at
to England,
distinctions are
somewhat confused and we can only speak
in a general
way.
However, while the watchmaking industry was developing in France, soil.
In the
it
hill
gave forth a seed which took root in new
country of eastern France, in the town of
Autun, there lived a watchmaker named Charles Cusin.
One day,
in 1574, for reasons that
moved a few miles eastward
we do not know, he
across the border into Switzer-
land and there settled in the beautiful lake city of Geneva.
He probably had no thought
that this personal act of a
private citizen would have an effect
upon
history, but
an
industry employing thousands of people and making mil-
-§133^
'Time 'Telling Through the Ages lions of dollars
worth of goods can be traced back to the
time when he crossed the border.
Remember
that this was back in the days of Shakes-
peare and Queen Elizabeth, while watches were
still
esteemed jewels and ornaments for the wealthy, and when the improvements which later ful
made them
practically use-
had not yet been invented. The business
making was thus growing up inventive and scientific;
when
the
it
at the
itself for
perfected,
remaining task would be to popularize
watch-
same time with the
was preparing
mechanism should be
side of
its
the day
and the only
perfection.
Charles Cusin liked Switzerland and thirteen years later
he became a
citizen.
In the course of time, he was active in
founding a watchmaker's guild in Geneva and from that period
Geneva watches have been famous. This does not
mean
that Switzerland had contained no watchmakers
before Cusin's appearance, but
we
are considering the
beginnings of a great industry and not mere instances of j
isolated
workmen. The man from Autun seems to have
been one of those energetic leaders who see
know how to organize.
It
is
possibilities
largely through such
men
and that
the world progresses.
You
will
remember that
upon the way
in
results of their
work
most of
his
in
which men
an early chapter we touched first
began to exchange the
in order that each
man might
devote
time to the special task for which he was best
What Happened in France and Switzerland such as hunting, or the making of weapons. Through
fitted,
this exchange, everyone
was enabled to Hve better than
anyone could have lived by himself. But
if it
were true
that people doing different things could help each other, also
became
true, after a while, that people
it
doing the same
thing could help each other and could help the general public,
by learning to co-operate. They could exchange
ideas,
improve their work, and bring about better conditions. This was one of the
effects of the guilds
—they changed
crafts into industries.
The
guild with which Charles Cusin
some say he was
its sole
founder—
^was a
important board of master-workmen.
about
fifty
very dignified and It
in
England, and
was founded
members were no
its
ordinary workmen. Switzerland was, and
oughly independent
man who
The members
still is,
country and a
little
enough to make a whole watch with to be a
to do
years earlier than was the Worshipful Clock-
Company
makers'
now had
realized his
his
man
a thorskilful
own hands was
apt
own worth.
of this guild were decidedly particular
about their dignity and their meetings were serious occasions, as
may
be seen from Article
I
of their regulations
which read: "Whenever the master workmen a
body
shall,
God
shall
meet
in
to discuss subjects pertaining to their guild, they
before proceeding to such discussion, offer prayer to
beseeching
Him
that
all
that they say and do
may
'Time 'Telling Through the Ages
may
further the interests of
this dignity
was based upon a correct
rebound to His glory and these people."
As a matter of fact
conception that has been somewhat overlooked in the present busy age.
manufacture or
The man who has
to do either with the
sale of timepieces does well to take his po-
sition seriously since
entire civilization.
he
is
Such a
a most important link in our
man may
fact that without the timepieces
well reflect
upon the
which he produces or
the world would drop into hopeless confusion, for society is
is
able to run smoothly and efficiently only
correctly timed.
Workmen and
sells,
human when
it
dealers engaged in such
a vital industry have a great responsibility to their fellow-
men. It is
probable that members of this guild
who met from
time to time in the Swiss city by the lake shores, under the
shadows of the snow-topped Alps, this responsibility.
realized
Their timepieces were not yet as accur-
ate as are ours of to-day, and the world
that
its affairs
least
something of
was not yet so busy
required the closest adjustment, but they at
were trying earnestly to keep the human cogs run-
ning smoothly by turning out watches as nearly perfect as their skill
This
"The
and knowledge would permit.
may be
seen again in Article
V of their regulations;
functions of the jurors are to enforce the laws of the
guild and to provide that there be no infringement of the
Limoges Enamel English Repeater
Watch
about 1650
English 1610-25
'
Silver
Watch, French. Intended to remind the Skull
wearer that each second brought death nearer
French Watch
Gold Enamel French
Watch
'
intended for the
—
head of a cane, 1645-70
Agate Case French
Seventeenth Century Watches Grew more In
elaborate
and ornamental, but
the collections of the
scarcely
Metropolitan
more
Museum.
useful.
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,
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bnOD98
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t
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What Happened in France and
To
same.
this end,
journeyman at power to
they shall be required to
visit
least four times during the year,
seize all articles
specifications
Switzerland
now
each
having
which do not conform to the
in force, to report all delinquents to the
worthy governing board, and to punish the offenders
in
accordance with the gravity of their fault." It
is
Geneva was out
quite clear that
watches, and, indeed the
name of the
for quality in
Swiss city has always
been associated with quality. Nevertheless, they were no angels
—those old Swiss craftsmen; they were
preponderatingly human. Thus
began to make a tight
They
restricted the
little
it
in fact quite
was not long before they
monopoly of
their business.
number of workmen who might be ad-
mitted to the guild, and they secured special ordinances by
means of which
all
other watchmakers were forbidden to
establish themselves within a certain distance of the city.
In other words, they did not purpose allowing the
and promising industry to grow beyond
their control.
There were, however, other independent people days
who
in those
hadn't the slightest intention of being bound
such restrictions.
Geneva
new
Here and
to carry on his
work
there, a in
some
watchmaker
by left
foreign city, as, for
example, in Besancon, France. Thus began a competition
which grew and spread as time went on. This competition developed some interesting features.
For example, the guild
in
Geneva obtained the passage of
Time
Through
'Telling
Ages
the
laws forbidding anyone from bringing into the city, in a finished state, a
"Schemes"
tance.
made
watch constructed within a certain
at will,
for
dis-
watches and certain parts might be
but only members of the citizen guild were
permitted to complete these schemes.
Such
restrictions naturally did not
priced watches; but sarily high-priced,
all
watches
tend toward low-
in those
days were neces-
and a man wealthy enough to afford one
was apt to seek the best that could be bought. Genevans strictness
gave
it
so great a reputation that during the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries foreign watchmakers flocked to the Swiss city very
journeyed to Paris, and
it
of the European industry. time-pieces
moved
much
became the acknowledged center
As time went on the demand
for
became more widespread and many Genevans
to other cities where they
watches. It
as art students later
is
contained as
became
dealers in
Geneva
said that, in 1725, the city of Constantinople
many
as eighty-eight mercantile agents
had become established
One hundred years Geneva was producing
in this
way.
after the founding of the five
who
guild,j
thousand watches a year, hav-
ing one hundred masters of the guild and three hundred!
journeymen.
when
it is
entirely
Now five thousand watches is no small output!
considered that each one must be constructed!
by hand and occupied a matter of weeks
making; yet, by 1799, the city contained nearly
in th(
six thou-
What Happened
and Switzerland
in France
sand watchmakers and jewelers and was producing
fifty
thousand timepieces a year.
Not many
miles to the northward from
other mountain city
—that of Neuchatel.
Geneva
an-
is
Neuchatel also
contained an enterprising and skilful population, for the Swiss people seem to have been naturally ingenious and skilful in the
use of tools. Doubtless the mountainous
character of the country has had something to do with this fact;
farming and fruit-raising are slow, hard work in their
rocky
soil
ticles is
and severe climate and the making of bulky
not desirable where transportation must be had
over mountain
The
ar-
trails.
Swiss with their clever fingers had long been famous
for their wood-carving;
now, when they had a chance at an
industry which called for delicate and skilful hand-work
and which produced goods of small
size
and high value,
it
exactly suited them.
Geneva that
*'saw
was
it
in the
district
is
is
it
so closely to herself
Neuchatel
district
not far away, yet, this
another great center of the industry.
said that in 1680,
Charles Cusin little
but kept
several generations later before watches were
known
It
it first,'*
moved
more than one hundred years
to Geneva, a horse-dealer
town of La Sagne, came home from
after
from the
his travels
and
brought with him an English watch. Great was the wonder that
it
excited
among
the simple people of his native place.
'Time Telling Through the Ages
They passed from hand
to
hand the
ism which had the strange power to
mechan-
Httle ticking
tell
day the ticking ceased, which perhaps
time, and then one
is
not surprising, in
view of the freedom with which the watch had been handled.
The
horse-dealer
knew nothing
of the mechanism but
was very anxious to have the works that there was a young locksmith in fifteen,
set right. It
La Sagne,
named Daniel Jean Richard, who was
ingenious that he had already clock of the village.
"Show
made
chanced
a lad of only
so skilful
and
repairs in the tower
the watch to Daniel Jean
Richard" said everybody.
The
delighted lad began to take the delicate
apart, studying carefully each wheel
mechanism
and spring and lever
until he felt that he understood exactly
how
it
should
work. Then, when he had succeeded in reassembling the parts and in
was
making the watch
tick bravely once more, he
seized with a great ambition to build another one
all
by himself. After
many
experiments with his crude locksmith tools,
he did produce a watch which would run and which would tell
time after a fashion
Neuchatel
and he
district
—but
realized that he
Somebody
told
—the it
first
watch ever made
did not satisfy his artist's soul
must have better
him that there was
for cutting wheels,
and he
in the
set
in
out to see
*§i40B-
tools.
Geneva a machine it
for himself, only
What Happened to
in France
and Switzerland
come back sadly disappointed. Wherever he asked
to see
Geneva craftsmen shook
their
the machine, the canny
heads. This eager lad from another
town had
far too intel-
ligent a face to be allowed to learn the precious secrets.
The most
that they would do was to let
the wheels
made by
Then he began
to
him have a few of
the machine.
work out
for himself a
machine to cut
the wheels, and at last succeeded in the task, so that before
long he was well on the turer. Richard,
instructed a
way to becoming a watch manufac-
however, was generous with his ideas; he
number of the young men of
his district, so
that watchmaking soon began to flourish in his town and in
those about
We
it.
have now seen how the watchmaking industry be-
came established in two great centers— in Geneva, where the highest quality guild,
was maintained, but under the
rule of the
which did not encourage quantity of output, and
in
the Neuchatel region where no guild system existed. In the course of time this latter region overtook and passed in
quantity of output that of Geneva. tel district
By
1818, the
Neucha-
of the Jura was turning out watches at the rate
of 130,000 a year.
The
solid old
Geneva watchmakers
as being less exacting in quality
and
criticized their rivals less careful as
to the
standard of gold used in their cases, but the Neuchatel people had no difficulty in finding customers;
*&I4IB*
we
read that
Time
Telling Through the Ages
one hundred and forty of their merchants went twice a year to the Leipsig
fair,
where they sometimes sold watches
to the value of four million francs ($800,000) in a year.
The two
principal centers of Swiss
watchmaking have
been mentioned although, of course, watches were made other districts as well. It tions ago
so
it
is
easy to see that
had already become a very
we need not be
many
in
genera-
large industry,
and
surprised to learn that even to-day the
tiny inland country produces a larger annual export value
of watches than even our vast United States.
Watchmak-
ing has been so large a source of wealth that the Swiss gov-
ernment has aided
ment of
it
in
every way, including the establish-
schools and courses for training skilled
More than
workmen.
sixty thousand Swiss people are directly
em-
ployed in the Swiss watch industry and over three hundred thousand, or one-twelfth of the entire population, are directly connected with
it.
The
Swiss have also
in-
made many
inventions and improvements so that they have had
much
to do with the development of the watch itself as well as
with the industry.
As we have already seen, fusee, another
who
it
was a Swiss who invented the
introduced the use of jewels for reduc-
ing friction and the stemwind
is
also of Swiss origin. It
was
the Swiss, too, who, early in the nineteenth century, did
away with
the solid upper plate which covered the works
and used, instead, a system of bridges. The bridge form of
What Happened
movement arately
in France and Switzerland
allows each part to be repaired or adjusted sep-
and to-day
it is
to be found in
all
watches of the
higher grades.
The Swiss invention
of the fusee, described in Chapter
VIII, played an important part for several hundred years,
but at
more
last it
was replaced by something simpler and
effective.
sure exerted
when
Made
to equalize the difference in the pres-
by a stiff mainspring when
partly run down,
rather clumsy; and
it
still
it
first
wound up and
worked beautifully but was
required comparatively heavier parts
which naturally necessitated the use of greater power.
Thus
friction and, consequently,
the Swiss
wear were increased. But
by making watch-parts that were very
yet strong, and
by reducing
light
friction principally
but
through
the introduction of jewels into the mechanism, succeeded at last in getting a little
movement
power. So they
mainspring,
made
now
that could be run with very
could use a
weak and
slender
so long that only its middle part ever
was wound and unwound, and thus the pressure remained equal,
and the use of the fusee was no longer necessary.
This principle, called the "going barrel" construction,
duced bility.
friction,
and made the thin modern watch a
The American makers,
as
we
re-
possi-
shall presently see,
adopted the "going barrel" construction practically from the
first.
knew
They had no
traditional prejudices,
a good mechanical idea -§
when they saw it.
143
^
and they
Time But the
'Telling
the
would have none of
British
bulldog quality set
them
Through
its
Ages it.
Their national
teeth on the old idea that had given
their heavy, substantial, accurate watches,
on grimly. The Swiss watches might be
lighter
and hung
and more
•graceful but they questioned their lasting qualities.
Swiss could lish
make watches more
beautifully, but the
The Eng-
were suspicious of cheapness and declined to adopt the
new development.
who up
to about 1840,
world in the manufacture and
sale of watches,
Thus the
behind.
English,
size.
The
led the
began to
The American watch industry was then
fancy, and the French industry
great
had
fall
in its in-
had never been of any
Swiss gradually drew ahead until they prac-
tically gained control of the world's
Switzerland became
known
as
market place
the
for watches.
from which
watches came, and, very much as "Havana" stands for a fine
cigar,
so
a
fine
watch was apt to be
called
a
"Geneva." This, then,
was the
nineteenth century
situation at about the middle of the
when watchmaking
ginning to grow into a large industry.
ways made good watches and very ones too, but they never
were
falling
in America
was be-
The French had
beautiful
al-
and elaborate
made very many. The English
behind so far that
it
was
said, in 1870, that
half the watchmakers' tools in England were in pawn.
The
Swiss were in control of the business, making both the best
1
The Swiss "Manufacturer" and
a Craftsman
In former days, Swiss workmen made some particular watch part in their
own homes, while the parts
and
so-called ^'manufacturers'^ bought
^'assembled'' the watches.
Time
Telling Through the Ages
would have none of
ihe British
....
bulldog quahty set
them
it.
Their nation.,
teeth on the old idea that
its
had
their heavy, substantial, accurate watches,
on grimly. The Swiss watches might be
lighter
giver,
and hw)
and
graceful but they questioned their lasting qualities,
Swiss could lish
make watches more
beautifully, but the
m "j.
i,
Eng
were suspicious of cheapness and declined to adopt
th'
new development. Thus world
in the
behind.
who up
to about 1840,
had
manufacture and
sale of watches,
began to
the English,
The American watch industry was then
led tht fait
in its in
fancy, and the French industry had never been of any
great
size.
tically
The
Swiss gradually drew ahead until they prac-
gained control of the world's market for watches
Switzerland became
known
as
the
place
from
wh*"^*^
watches came, and, very much as "Havana" stands fine
cigar,
so
a
fine
watch was apt to be
foi
called
.
^
"Geneva." This, then,
was the situation
nineteenth century wb<
*
'^^chmaking in America
ginning to grow into
ways made good
watci;
ones too, but they never
were
falling
at about the middle of the
'dustry. ;
was
The French had
bea.
very beautiful and elaborate
made very many. The
behind so far that
it
was
English
said, in 1870, thai
half the watchmakers' tools in England were in pawn.
The
Swiss were in control of the business, making both the best
VLAMZT^ArO a aVLA ''RSJltMM^AM'' 88iw2 3hT
What Happened and the worst watches
in France
in the
and Switzerland
world and by far the greatest
number. Everywhere a good watch was
still
too costly to
be owned by anyone of moderate means, while cheap
watches were
little
more than toys which could not be
depended upon either to wear well or to keep good time. In spite of
all
developments, therefore, there
mained the need both
for a high-grade
still
re-
watch at a reason-
able price and for a cheap watch that would be accurate
under rough usage. These things were genuinely necessary, for the world
was growing steadily away from the theory
of special privilege, and the requirements of the average
man were becoming more insistent. From
those early days,
when
the astrologers in
Mesopo-
tamia had kept their knowledge a secret for themselves,
down through more than
forty centuries, only a few
possessed the
means of accurately
had come the
railroad, the telegraph, the
the newspaper and
many
other
modern
life
until
it
modern
now
factory,
developments which
speeded up the movements of humanity whirl of
but
telling time;
had
in the
rush and
had become absolutely neces-
sary that the means of measuring and performing those
movements
in
an economical manner should be within the
reach of every man. It
remains to be shown
how American watchmaking dis-
covered this need and organized to meet
and
filled
the gap that had been
left in
it;
how
foreign
it
found
watchmak-
Time ing,
Telling Through the Ages
between high-priced watches that were good, and low-
priced watches that were not good;
how
it
developed a
cheaper good watch and a better low-priced one than the
world had so far known; and how, in so doing, the American industry has grown within the
memory
of living
to such an extent as to take second place, and, in respects, first place in
men
many
watchmaking throughout the world.
-&I460*
CHAPTER TWELVE How
<:iAn
American Industry Qame
On T LAST it
Horseback
the clock industry
came on horseback.
came to America, and
If
you had been upon a
dusty country road in Connecticut about the year 1800, you might have seen a plainly dressed young
man come
riding along with a clock strapped to each side
of his saddle and a third fastened crosswise behind him.
"Hello, Eli Terry!" you might have heard sing out, as the rider
drew
some farmer
near.
"Hello, Silas," the other would call back; "don't
think
it's
about time you bought a
"Can't afford
it,
Eli;
it
takes
you
clock.?"
me
a long time to
make
forty dollars raising wheat."
"Yes; but you can't afford to be without one, Silas."
And, dismounting, he would unstrap one of the clocks and bring
it
up to the stone
wall.
Then would
follow the period
of bargaining, so dear to the shrewd, hard-headed sons of
Connecticut. Perhaps
when young Terry climbed back into
the saddle and said "Gid-dap," one of his clocks would stay
behind with the farmer. Like most successful salesmen,
Terry was a close observer of human nature; he knew that «S
147 B*
'Time Telling Through the Ages
He
habits once formed are hard to break.
that
if
self.
made
a prospective customer could be
upon a clock
One
for telling time, the clock
discovered early to
depend
would soon
sell it-
day, during a rain-storm, he sought refuge in a
He
farmer's home.
and placed
it
brought
in
with him one of his clocks
on the mantel over the
that he would like to leave
it
fireplace, explaining
where
there,
it
would not get
wet, while he continued on his journey. "I'll
be back for
it
in a
few days," he
said, as
he waved
good-by.
When
Terry returned, some days
ized that the clock,
which he had
later,
first
the farmer real-
regarded as an ex-
travagance had somehow become a necessity, and, with
no urging on Terry's part, the
Some of the
sale
original clocks are
was quickly completed. running in the very
still
farmhouses where Eli Terry succeeded
where they have ticked since the days of
off
them, and
the minutes of American history
Adams and
remarkable clocks,
in selling
Jefferson.
They were
in spite of the fact that their
were cut out of hard wood with country
tools,
truly
works
and put
to-
gether by a carpenter.
The
first
American clocks were made of wood, and most
of the early clockmakers were at
first
carpenters.
We have
seen clockmakers developing from priests and astronomers
and blacksmiths and locksmiths and jewelers; but here a
new gateway
to the trade. This
is
came about naturally
How An American enough
Industry
Came on Horseback
country where the cheapest and most plentiful
in a
material was wood, and where the carpenter and joiner was
accustomed to constructing every possible thing of
it.
Eli
Terry of Connecticut was one of the best known of these early
New
England craftsmen. He was born
in
Windsor, just a few years before the Revolution. time that he was twenty, he had
made
wood with saw and
wooden hands,
dials,
and
mouth, not
from Waterbury, and
far
By
the
a few clocks, cutting
the wheels out of hard
file,
and making
Then he moved
cases.
East
set
to Ply-
up a small shop
where he employed several workmen. They would make a dozen or two at a time, entirely by hand. Then Terry
would take these out and
sell
"new country"
New York state line.
It
across the
them, sometimes as far as the
took a long time to make a clock in
this
were as clever as Terry's, and
fingers that
way, even
it is
for
no wonder
that he was compelled to charge from twenty to forty dollars apiece,
a sum, which, by-the-way, would be equal to
at least four times as
much to-day
according to the
ence in the purchasing power of money. ber, too, that a family
wagon or
then bought
its
We must
clock as
a spinning-wheel, almost as a
house to-day. Certainly
it
was a
far
it
differ-
remem-
bought a
man buys
his
more important trans-
action relatively than the purchase of a motor-car.
Probably,
if
one could have overheard some of these
roadside clock-sales
it
would have been noted that the •6-149^
'Time 'Telling Through the Ages
bargaining was not great deal of
all
money
upon one
side, for there
in circulation,
was not a
and people were
very-
apt to "swap." Likely as not, Terry would have to take his
payment ity
and
in
lumber, in clothing, or in some other
itself.
the old horseback still
would dispose of when an oppor-
these, in turn, he
tunity presented
This was more or
less
when
a
man who
These were
produced some one thing might
be forced, in order to realize on
most anything
the type of
Yankee trader of the days when men
remembered the Revolutionary War.
the days
commod-
its
value, to trade
it
for al-
else.
When we think of the
early
American timepiece, we gen-
erally picture to ourselves the so-called "Grandfather's
Clock," the kind with the
tall
case which Longfellow wrote
about as standing on a turning in the
stair
and ticking
away: "Forever!" "Never!" "Never!" "Forever!" as
marked the passage of the all
years.
But
it
Eli Terry, the first of
American clock-makers, could not well carry such a big
contrivance with him on his horseback trips; therefore, while he
made
the works for these clocks, he left
it
for
other people to construct the cases; the clocks which he sold complete were those
which could stand upon a shelf or
hang upon the wall. After a time, his orders increased to a point where he felt justified in
moving
rigging machinery to
into an old water-power mill
and
do some parts of the work. Thus we
How An American find
Industry
Came on Horseback
machinery used in American clock-making almost from
the beginning of the industry. Terry thus facturer; he
was a
real
manu-
had grasped the importance of machine pro-
duction in contrast to hand-craftsmanship.
The move
paid;
it
cut the cost of
making nearly
in half
and greatly increased the output. He now could afford to sell his
clocks
more cheaply, and the business grew
After a while he began to
make
hundred and then, indeed,
at once.
clocks in lots of one or
his neighbors
two
shook their heads
gravely.
*'You are losing your mind, Eli," they told him, in
emn
warning. "The
be so
You
full
first
Eli
thing you know, the country will
of clocks that there will be no market for them.
are getting reckless
But
sol-
and ruining your business."
Terry followed
his
own judgment instead
of that
of the croakers; before he died he was making ten or
twelve thousand clocks in a year and was selling them too.
They brought him a fortune. Thus was the industry of making timepieces born America. It began in
New England, which is
center of manufacture, and
it
still
began with
in
the chief
clocks,
not
watches, for the simple reason that in those days, a watch
was a luxury whereas a clock was a watch industry
in Switzerland,
was an active business from the the
man with whom
it
necessity. Like the
American clock-making
start, and, as we
started
*&iSis-
have seen,
was a typically Yankee
'Time 'Telling Through the Ages
combination of ingenious mind,
knack
Of
skilful
and a
fingers,
for business.
course, the conditions of
life
in
America at that time
had a great deal to do with methods used
in building
up the
industry. Instead of a civilization centuries old that
had
wealth, rank, royalty, and a complete organization of
methods of
living, here
things in
own way.
It
is
vailed
its
was a new country learning to do
hard for us to imagine the conditions which pre-
when our whole population was
a mere fringe of
scattered settlements along the Atlantic seaboard;
people
made
York was
it
when
long trips on horseback or by stage-coach and
men wore powdered Island,
all
a small
wigs and knickerbockers;
when New
town on the lower end of Manhattan
and Chicago had not even been dreamed
was necessary to
tell
of. Still,
time, and our thrifty ancestors
needs must watch the minutes in order to save them as thriftily as
they saved everything
else.
Not one person out
of hundreds, in a country where a living must be
from the
soil
by means of hard work, could
afford to
anything so expensive as a watch, but every one essary to have a clock,
if
possible,
and
it
wrung
felt it
own nec-
became one of
the greatest treasures of the home. This, then,
who
followed
was the market
him had
to
sell.
in It
which Terry and those
was a market that could
not afford to pay for ornament but desired practical service
The
First
Eli 'Terry^ America s
Yankee Clock Maker
first
clock
ma^iufacturer, peddled his
wares amotig the shrewd, hard-headed sons of Co7inecticut.
Time
Celling Through the Ages
combination of ingenious mind,
knack
Of
skilful
and a
fingers,
for business
course, the conditions of
life
in
America at that time
had a great deal to do with methods used
in building
up the
industry. Instead of a civilization centuries old that
had
wealth, rank, royalty, and a complete organization of
methods of
living, here
things in
own way.
It is
vailed
its
was a new country learning to do
hard for us to imagine the conditions which pre-
when
ou! whole population
was a mere
fringe of
scattered settlements along the Atlantic seaboard;
people
made
when New
wigs and knickerbockers;
York was a small town on
it
when
long trips on horseback or by stage-coach and
men wore powdered Island,
all
tb
'
*
Manhattan
and Chicago had not even Dcen arcamed
was necessary
to
tell
of. Still,
time, and our thrifty ancestors
needs must watch the minutes in order to save them as thriftily as
they saved everything
else.
Not one person out
of hundreds, in a countr>^ where a living must be
from the
soil
by means of hard work, could
afford to
anything so expensive as a watch, but every one essary to have a clock,
if
possible,
and
it
wrung
felt it
own nec-
became one of
the greatest treasures of the home. This, then,
who
followed
was the market
him had
to
in
sell. It
which Terry and those
was a market that could
not afford to pay for ornament but desired practical service
iI33AM 30Oj0
^^^4Y
T8illi;
3hT
Hozu
An
at low cost.
American Industry Came on Horseback
What was
needed, therefore, was a clock that
would keep time and cost not a cent more than was absolutely necessary. start
As
upon a
The American industry was
basis entirely different
Eli Terry's business grew,
forced to
from that of Europe.
he needed assistance, and
he secured the help of a young mechanic named Seth
Thomas from West Haven, and for
the two worked together
some time.
The name
of Seth
clock-dials that
it is
Thomas
has appeared upon so
many
perhaps the best known name in
all
American clock-making. He was a good mechanic, and a good business man, and he had ideas of
his
own about
in-
creasing trade. In the course of time, about the year 1800,
he and a
man named
Silas
Hoadley bought the and
original
them-
Terry factory
in the old mill,
selves. Terry,
however, established himself elsewhere and
set
up business
for
continued to manufacture clocks.
Thus the industry was growing;
there were
factories instead of one. Seth
Thomas
ing each popular fashion or
improvement
came along and applying
upon
it
now two
prospered by adoptin clocks as it
as large a scale
honestly and well as could be done. utation that even to-day, while the
He
built
name
and as
up such a rep-
of Seth
Thomas
on a clock face does not suggest any particular form or style of clock,
it is
associated with good time keeping and
honest workmanship.
•6153^
'Telling
'T'lme
The
third of the
'T'hrough the
famous old
New
Ages
England clock-makers
was Chauncey Jerome. He was a man younger than Terry and Thomas by nearly a generation. Like both of his pre-
was brought up to the carpenter's
decessors he like
both of them he was a born
New
trade,
and
England trader. But
of the three, Jerome was perhaps most the inventor and least the
man
of business.
As a boy, he worked
Thomas when Thomas was
still
He worked
in the old
Then,
for Eli
Terry
for Seth
building barns and houses.
shop at Plymouth.
after a period of soldiering in the
War
of 1812, he
went back to clock-making, sometimes manufacturing by himself and sometimes associated with one or the other of
the two older men, or in other firms and enterprises too
numerous to
what of a
follow.
Always he seems to have been some-
rolling stone,
much moss
although in his time he gathered as
as the best of
them: always he was inclined to
experiment with new ideas. Jerome's carpentering ested in the
making of
caused him to be
skill
cases,
forms of old American clocks lars at the corners
underneath the
and a
dial
and most of the familiar
—the square clock with
scroll top,
and the
first inter-
like,
the clock with a mirror
were designed by Terry
and Jerome between them. Later on, when the
ment
of brass foundries in
pil-
Waterbury and
establish-
Bristol
had
enabled American makers to construct their work of brass instead of wood, Jerome
worked out a design
for a brass
How An
American Industry Came on Horseback
one-day timepiece in a wooden case, small enough for easy transportation, and cheaper than any clock ever
made up
to that time. Its price at
first,
near the place of
manufacture, was only five or six dollars, but afterwards this
was reduced.
This low-priced clock was as remarkable in
was the watch,
dollar watch, it
which
it
foreshadowed.
its
And
way
as
like the
would not have been possible except through
machine work and quantity production.
It
was a success
at
once and Jerome's business rapidly increased. In 1840, he
was established
in Bristol,
turning out the
the thousand, and rapidly making a fortune. later,
new
clocks
by
A year or two
he decided to send a consignment of them to England.
Again, people shook their heads and prophesied
failure.
"You're losing your mind, Chauncey," they told him as they had told Eli Terry before him.
The
older
wooden movements could
not, of course, en-
dure a sea voyage without swelling and becoming useless.
A brass movement
and
could, of course, be sent anywhere,
some of the more expensive ones had been shipped parts of the country, yet
it
to
all
seemed absurd enough to send
American clocks to England where labor was so cheap
—to
England, which was then the chief clockmaker of the world. Nevertheless, Jerome persevered, and his son sailed for
London with a cargo of the cheap
clocks.
English trade would have none of them.
At
first,
the
No clock so cheap
'Time Telling Through the Ages
could possibly be good, they said, and Connecticut was the
home
of **the
difficulty that
wooden nutmegs."
few by leaving them about
first
ing no
payment
for
enterprise
in itself.
was only
The
after great
they were introduced. Young Jerome got
of the
The
It
them until
rid
in retail stores, ask-
sold.
was saved by an event which was a joke
English revenue law at that time permitted
the owner of imported goods to
fix their
taxable value.
But the government could take any such property upon
payment of a sum ten per cent greater than the owner's valuation. Jerome's clocks were valued at their wholesale
and were presently
price,
on the ground that
The
elder
this valuation
by the customs
officials
was fraudulently low.
Jerome chuckled upon learning of this. He was
well satisfied to
cent
seized
profit,
have closed out
his first cargo at ten per
and at once sent over another shipment
which was taken over by the customs as promptly as the first.
But by the time the third consignment
arrived,
enough of the clocks had been sold to establish a demand for
them among the
retailers,
and the
officials finally
con-
ceded that the low price might be a reasonable one after
Jerome was not
at the height of his prosperity.
all.
He had
the largest and probably the most profitable clock business in the country; and, in the
was exported
to
factory burned
all
few years following,
parts of the world.
down and he moved -&iS69-
to
his
Then the
New
product Bristol
Haven, where
How An American
the Jerome Manufacturing period of great success.
Came on Horseback
Industry
The
Company business
enjoyed a brief
was constantly
ex-
tended, and the wholesale price of the cheap brass clocks
was brought
as low as seventy-five cents. This figure seems
almost impossibly low for the time, but the authority for is
Jerome's
own autobiography.
A few years failed
P. T.
before the Civil
War, the Jerome Company
and, curiously enough, this failure
through
its
it
came about
connection with that usually successful man,
Barnum, the famous showman. The story is too much
complicated to be given here in
Barnum had become
detail,
but
it
seems that
heavily interested in a smaller clock
company, which was merged with the Jerome concern.
The
overvaluation of
its
stock,
combined with misman-
agement and speculation among the
Company, served ruptcy.
up
officials
of the Jerome
to drive the whole business into bank-
Barnum lost heavily, and it took him years to clear
his obligations.
some years of
Jerome never did recover from
failing
power
in the
it;
after
employ of other manu-
facturers, he died in comparative poverty.
His long and eventful
life
spans the whole growth of the
American clock business from the days of Eli Terry and
his
handsawed wooden movements down to the maturity of the
modern business supplying, by factory methods and
the use of specialized machinery, millions of clocks to parts of the world.
He had made
clocks
all
all
over Connecti-
Time
Telling Through the Ages
Plymouth, Farmington,
cut, in
Waterbury, as well as
in
New Haven
Bristol,
and
Massachusetts and, for a time,
South Carolina and Virginia. He had worked with hands
for
in
his
Terry and Seth Thomas at the old wooden wheels
and veneered
cases,
which were peddled about the country
and sold for thirty or forty dollars each to be the treasured timekeepers of
modern
many
And
households.
he had headed a
factory, turning out dollar clocks
by the
tens of
thousands. It is said that a child in the first
briefly
few years of its
through the whole evolution of
civilized
mankind.
That "infant industry," American clock-making, in the short space of fifty years
steps of the whole
likewise,
passed through most of the
growth of time-recording between the
Middle Ages and our own
among
life lives
era.
now
This country stands
the leading clock-making nations of the world;
product
is
famous
in
every land and a timepiece
itS|
froi
New Haven may mark
the minutes in the
town from which Gerbert was banished
for sorcery because
Waterbury or
he made a time-machine, or in that land between the rivers
where the Babylonians
first
Most of the American cut; in fact,
looked out upon the
clocks are
still
made
stars.
in Connecti-
more than eighty per cent of the whole world's
supply (excluding the German) comes from the Naugatuck Valley.
The New Haven Clock Company, which
successor of the Jerome
Company,
is
is
the
to-day one of the
How An largest.
As
American Industry Came on Horseback
far
back
as 1860,
it
was producing some two
hundred thousand clocks a year. The Seth Thomas Com-
pany and others of the
historic concerns are
And
various portions of the state.
Company, with which,
still
the Benedict
at one time,
at
work
& Burnham
Chauncey Jerome was
became the Waterbury Clock Company, now
associated,
we
regarded as the largest clock producer, and of which shall
in
hear more later on. of the whole development was that
The key-note principle
which
American
prompted
invention,
stimulated by the pressing necessities of a
brought into the business of time-recording
new
new and
nation,
—the principle
of marvelously cheapening production-costs without loss of efficiency,
through
machinery on a large
As long
the
employment of
systematic
scale.
as the inventive brains
and the technical knowl-
edge of the old-time craftsman found expression only
through his own
fingers, the results
his individual production,
tionately high.
and the
would be limited to
costs
would be propor-
When, however, the master mind was
able
to operate through rows of machines, each under the
supervision
of a mechanic
function, his inventive genius
trained
to
its
particular
was provided with ten thou-
sand hands and a hundred thousand
fingers.
Furthermore,
the production gained in quality as well as in quantity,
because of specialization,
all
the time
-§159^
its
costs
were
in
^ime
Celling 'Through the Ages
process of reduction.
This, perhaps, has been America's
chief contribution, not only to the
making of timepieces,
but, also to the world's industry in general.
-&i6o3»
Lnglish
Clock
— Floral
about 1700
Marquetry in Walnut Ground
i™
'^^^
American Black Walnut on Pine Eighteenth Century
''Grandfather's Clocks These huge but beautiful clocks represent the most reliable
form
of timepiece
known
Eighteenth Centuries.
to the
In
people of the Seventeenth and
the
Metropolitan
Museum.
bnuoiO
:jl3oI3
nEohamA
9ni4 no JunlfiW io£l9
CHAPTER THIRTEEN ^America J^arns
WHILE
to
Terry was sawing wood
Eli
for his curi-
ous clocks back in the early days of the nineteenth century, Luther Goddard, America's
first
watch-manufacturer, was preaching the Gospel to the
town and country-folk
in
Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Between sermons he repaired watches. Although we can
find
no record of such a meeting,
it is
easy to imagine that while plodding along some dusty
country road Preacher Goddard met Terry jogging along with his cumbersome wooden clocks hanging from his saddle.
The thought may have come
mechanic that
it
would be much
to the minister-
easier to peddle
watches
than clocks.
Whatever may have been the prompting, we matter of record, that,
making and peddling
in the
find, as a
year 1809, while Terry was
Luther Goddard
his clocks,
set
up a
small watch-making shop in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, the place of his birth.
He employed watch-makers who had
learned their trade in England.
At that time, there was a
law in force which prohibited the importation of foreign-
made watches
into
America and *&i6is-
this
gave Goddard
his
'Time Telling Through the Ages
when the law was
chance. But in 1815,
repealed and the
American market was quickly flooded with cheaper, better watches from abroad, he
was forced
if
not
to retire from
During those few years he had produced about
the
field.
five
hundred watches.
Discouraged by his venture into worldly
affairs,
he
turned again to his former occupation of preacher and evangelist,
and consoled himself with the remark that he
"had here a profession high above
his secular vocation."
In those days, protection and free trade had not yet be-
come the otherwise
rival rallying cries of
two great
we might have found
political parties;
this early
manufacturer
entering politics instead of the pulpit. While he
with manufacturing the it is
first
is
credited
American watches, however,
workmen
doubtful whether he and his
really did
more
than to assemble imported parts.
More than twenty fort
years
now
passed before another
was made to produce watches
by two brothers
—Henry and James
in
—
America
this
ef-
time
F. Pitkin of Hartford,
Connecticut. In 1838, they brought out a watch, most of the parts of which were
more or
less
a
failure.
in discouragement.
made by machinery, but
it
proved
After a brief struggle, they gave up
Henry
Pitkin died in 1845, and his
brother, a few years later.
While the Pitkin Brothers were struggling with problem
in Hartford,
their
Jacob D. Custer of Norristown,
&l62B*
America Learns
to
Make Watches
Pennsylvania, was engaged in a similar task. in
He succeeded
making a few watches between 1840 and 1845, thus
gaining his niche in history as the third American watch
manufacturer.
But
all
of these were merely forerunners, for
stepped upon the stage a young
man whose
now
there
ability
and
perseverance were destined to launch American watch-
making
upon
fairly
way. This young
its
Hingham, Massachusetts,
Edward Howard;
it
in
was born
in
man was
1813, and his
born in
name was
him to be an inventive and
ingenious craftsman and to feel toward the mechanism of
time-keeping the devotion of an artist to his
art.
At the
age of sixteen, he was apprenticed to Aaron Willard,
Jr.,
of Roxbury, one of the cleverest clock-makers of his time.
Young Howard took Gloucester
made
are
to clock-making as naturally as a
man takes to the sea. Some ofthe clocks he then ticking as vigorously as ever.
still
ently learned
all
he cared to
know about
Having
pres-
clock-making, he
cast about for other fields of action. His bent, as he himself said,
and
"was
it
all
for the finer
and more
was natural that these
delicate
mechanism,"
qualities of the
watch should
absorb his interest. It was equally natural, since he was an
American clock-maker revolutionized
at a time
when that
trade was being
by machine-work, that he should dream
of
applying such methods to the watch.
"One
difficulty I
found," he
is
quoted as saying, "was
Time
Telling Through the Ages
that watch-making did not exist in the United States as an industry. There were watchmakers, so-called, at that time,
and there are great numbers of the same kind now, but they never made a watch; their business being only to clean
and
repair. I
knew from
experience that there was no
The work
proper system employed in making watches.
was
all
many
done by hand. Now, hand-work
of the arts because
it
is
;
superior in
allows variation according to
;l
the individuality of the worker. But in the exquisitely fine
wheels and screws and pinions that
watch, the
less
make up
variation the better.
Some
the parts of a of these parts
are so fine as to be almost invisible to the naked eye. iation of one five-thousandths of
I
A var-
an inch would throw the j
watch out altogether, or make I say, all
filed
it
useless as a timepiece.
of these minute parts were laboriously cut and
out by hand, so
it
will readily
be understood that in
watches purporting to be of the same makers, there are no two
alike,
great deal of time
size
and of the same
and there was no
changeability of parts. Consequently
A
As
it
was
*cut
inter-
and
try'.
was wasted and many imperfections
resulted."
Howard's ambition lay
watch
for its
own
in the production of a perfect
sake; and he
wanted to make
chinery, believing that, in that way, perfectly.
it
could be
it
by ma-
made most
Other people had thought of the same thing.
Pitkin had attempted
it,
and there had been some experi-
|
i
America Learns
ments of like nature
work
his
as
to
Make Watches
in Switzerland.
Howard
But the man who loves
did will succeed in anything short of
the impossible, because neither time nor labor, neither failure
nor discouragement, matter at
the hope of making his
dream come
As Howard was emerging
him
as against
young manhood, the
into
Morse was struggling with the
to
true.
great period of American invention ing.
all
was rapidly develop-
electric telegraph
which
he invented and perfected in 1835, and Goodyear was busy
with machinery and processes for enabling rubber to be used commercially, thus laying the foundation for one of the greatest American industries of to-day. Ingenuity was in the air
and invention was conquering realms that had
been believed beyond reach.
When
people told
Howard
it
was absurd to think
skill
of centuries, he an-
that
of improving upon the manual
swered that he expected to make his machinery by hand.
And when they
said that a
machine for watch-making
would be more wonderful than the watch laughed and agreed that this might be
itself,
he only
so.
To-day, we are familiar with such phrases as "standardized parts''
and "quantity production," which explain to
how it
possible for a single factory to produce millions
us
is
of watches in a year, or for another kind of plant to turn
out half a million automobiles in a like period.
which "quantity production" came about
is
The way
in
curiously in-
Time
'Telling
Through
the
Ages
Watch-making received one of
teresting.
pulses from a famous
its
greatest im-
American inventor who probably
would have been amazed had anyone told him that idea
his
upon quite another subject would some day help
to
put watches into millions of pockets.
There
is
no particular connection between a cotton-gin
and the "quantity production" of watches, but esting to
know
it is
inter-
that the same ingenious brain which de-
signed the one also unconsciously suggested the other. Late in the eighteenth century,
fame
as the inventor of a
ally separate the seeds
Eli
Whitney gained
lasting
machine which would automatic-
from the
fiber of
—
crude cotton
machine which revolutionized the cotton industry of the south.
In 1798, Whitney secured a contract to manufacture rifles
for -the
government.
made much more
way to produce
He
decided that they could be
rapidly and cheaply if he could find
all
some
the separate parts in large quantities
by
machinery, and then merely assemble the various parts into the completed weapon.
The
inventive
mind which was
capable of devising the cotton-gin found this to be comparatively simple, and
it
Whitney was making thousands of
made "standardized before.
out
was not long before rifles
from machine-
parts," where only one could be
Half a century
rifles
new problem
later his
machinery was
still
made
turning
parts in the great arsenal at Springfield, Massa-
-§i66e*
America Learns chusetts,
and
it
was not
distinct influence
While Howard
to
Make Watches
until this period that
it
upon watch-making. in
Roxbury was dreaming of producing
man
watches by machinery, another young Dennison, of Boston
—
^was also obsessed
—^Aaron
fore not strange that the paths of these in Freeport,
older than
L.
with the same
dream and grappling with the same problem.
Born
exerted a
It is there-
two soon
crossed.
Maine, 1812, Dennison was just a year
Howard. He was an expert watch-repairer and
watch-assembler, having learned his craft
and the English workmen
in
New York
among the
Swiss
and Boston. The
year 1845 found him conducting a small watch and jewelry business in Boston.
Some few years
earlier,
Dennison had visited friends
Springfield, Massachusetts,
and while there he was taken
to one of the interesting show-places of the Springfield Arsenal.
the great
rifle
in
As he made
town
his slow progress
—the
through
factory, he marveled at the wonderful
ma-
chinery and the system which had originated in the brain of Eli
Whitney nearly half a century
dead and gone, but
his
works
still
Dennison returned to Boston,
before;
Whitney was
lived. fired
with an ambition to
apply the Whitney system and methods of rifle-making to the manufacture of watches.
He brooded
for yearSjConstructing a pasteboard
watch factory and planning
over the scheme
model of his imaginary
in detail its organization.
Time
Telling Through the Ages
Then occurred a meeting meeting marking the
—
make
that was to
history
step in founding a great Ameri-
first
can industry and wresting from Europe and Great Britain the watch-making monopoly which they had continuously held since the days of the ''Nuremburg Egg." Dennison
met Howard, and the contact of the two minds was meeting of flint and
steel.
Dennison shared Howard's belief
made
that watch-parts could be ately
like the
better and
more accur-
by the use of machines. He had the watch-making
experience and
Howard the mechanical
new machinery. One may imagine how inspired each other.
They had
needed was the capital and
Mr. Samuel
Curtis,
twenty thousand
this
skill to
the two
the ideas;
young men
all
was supplied
who backed them
design the
they
now
in 1848
by
to the extent of
dollars.
Dennison immediately went abroad to study methods
in
England and Switzerland and came back more than ever convinced of the soundness of their own ideas. "I have examined," said he, "watches
whose reputation
at this
moment
is
far
made by a man
beyond that of any
other watchmaker in Great Britain and have found in
them such workmanship
as I should blush to
posed had passed from under grade of work. Of course is
I
my
hands
in
have
our
it
sup-
own lower
do not mean to say that there
not work in these watches of the highest grade possible,
but errors do creep
in
and are allowed to pass the hands of *&i683-
Eighteenth Century Watches Reached
the extreme of elaboration
and
costliness, but
always equally successful as time keepers. of the Metropolitan
Museum.
In
were not
the collections
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America Learns competent examiners.
And
Make Watches
to
it
needs but slight acquaint-
ance with our art to discover that the lower grade of foreign watches are hardly as mechanically correct in their
common wheelbarrow."
construction as a
On his return,
in 1850,
he and
selves in a small factory in
Howard
Roxbury, under the name of the
American Horologe Company. And that the foundation of the
what
is
now
factory
was
the
first
and hence the
watch company in America, and the parent concern
of most of the It
little
the great establishment of
Waltham Watch Company,
oldest
established them-
rest.
was perhaps
at this time that
Bartlett, returned to his
an employee, one P.
home town on
a visit and
S.
was
asked by his old neighbors what he had been doing. "I
am
working," said he, "for a company which makes
seven complete watches in a day." Great was the merri-
ment
at this reply.
"Why, where on
earth could you
sell
seven watches a day?" they shouted.
With the advent of
the factory, the real troubles of
Dennison and Howard began. for a
It
is
worth while to glance
moment at the problem which lay before them,
to appreciate its difficulty.
The
old plan
if only
was to have a
model watch made by hand by a master workman. This watch was then taken apart and tributed for reproduction
its
separate parts dis-
by a multitude of
workers involving perhaps some forty or
specialized fifty
minor
'Time 'Telling Through the Ages trades.
These
parts,
hand-made
after a
hand-made model,
were then returned to the expert who assembled and adjusted them.
At the worst,
this resulted in gross error; at
the best, in individual variation.
could not be expected to other, although the
fit
A
part from one watch
and work accurately
two were supposed to be
in an-
alike in all
their parts.
The new
idea
was
first
on
to lay out the whole design
paper and then to make the various parts by machinery according to the exact design. It was supposed that a machine
making one part would duplicate that part repeat-
edly without variation; that in so far as the machines
themselves were accurate, the parts produced would necessarily
be interchangeable; that any set of parts could
therefore be assembled without fitting or alteration. finished watch,
it
The
was assumed, would require adjustment
only. Theoretically, this idea
was
correct; practically,
it
could not be perfectly carried out, and the results did not fulfil
the hopes of the manufacturers. In the
there were not in existence
first
place,
any machines of the required
delicacy and precision; every one
must
first
be invented,
then designed, then made, and finally adjusted for practical operation.
Even
so,
and notwithstanding the great
mechanical achievements of the
Waltham Company,
results never succeeded in realizing the
the
dreams of Howard
and Dennison, of absolute interchangeability of parts.
It
America Learns
Make Watches
to
remained for the IngersoU organization,
many
years later,
to develop such a factory system.
Before
Howard and Dennison
could
watch, therefore, they had to invent
and themselves build and
the ground up. There was
a single
the mechanism,
every invention. More-
install
over, several of the processes
all
make
had to be worked out from
nobody
in
America who under-
who
stood watch-gilding, for example, or
could
make
dials
or jewels.
Thus they as they could
set to
do
work developing the machinery
so,
selves could not yet
as fast
and imported such parts as they themmake.
It
was a staggering task and a
discouraging devourer of capital. "I do not think," said
Dennison many years seven years
pay
all
later,
"there were seven times in the
we were together that we had money enough
to
our employees at the time their wages were due.
Very often we would hand, but Mr.
find ourselves
without any cash on
Howard would manage some way
to pro-
duce enough to tide over with."
The two men made a
perfect team, eager to give each
other credit, and each having unbounded loyalty and confidence in the other
enough, to
it
and
in their enterprise. But, curiously
was Howard, the
artist
and dreamer, who seems
have developed into the business
dition to being the inventor
man of the
two, in ad-
and engineer, whereas Denni-
son, the expert watch-repairer,
became the designer and
*&I7IB*
trough
I'ime Telling
originator of plans. It
there
was
said of
him long afterward that
was probably never an idea
making that had not
Ages
the
American watch-
in
some time passed through Mr.
at
Dennison's resourceful mind.
He
is
known
to
many
as the
"Father of the American Watch Industry," although he sisted that
Howard deserved
the
much
title as
if
in-
not more
than he. Dennison schemed out what was to be done, while
Howard found
the
with which to do Their idea. It
doned
first
the machinery
it.
model, an eight-day watch, was Dennison's
was found
to be impracticable and
in favor of a
pany had
money and invented
one-day model. The name of the com-
to be changed, because
some of the English firms from parts.
They
pany"
for a time,
called
was soon aban-
it
the
it
did not find favor with
whom
they bought certain
"Warren Manufacturing Com-
and their
first
few watches were marked
with this name. Later on, they moved to a new factory at
Waltham and
name
incorporated under the
tham Improvement Company.
It
of the Wal-
was while the act
for its
incorporation was before the Massachusetts legislature
that some
wag there produced
"lA Waltham*
'patent* watch,
'besides the 'hands''
which ere
must have the
All this time, the tools ble.
the couplet
'ayes*
it
and
goes 'noes**
and machinery were giving trou-
There were innumerable
difficulties.
For example,
New
England workmen objected to cutting the pinion-leaves
America Learns
Make Watches
to
And
because they were shaped like a bishop's miter. cial
pressure
finan-
was always upon them. The building was one
of the earliest attempts at concrete construction, and far
from stable
foreman
in
was
stormy weather. Mr. Hull, afterward "Often
in the dial-room, said:
would jump from our for fear the building
when we
stools
would
fall
in those
felt
days we
something
down. Somehow,
it
jar,
never
did."
In 1854 the
name was changed
again, this time to the
American Watch Company. Incidentally, Mr. Dennison took his place among the large and honorable company of inventors
who have been called
insane.
He earned that title
by saying that they would eventually make fifty
as
many
as
watches a day. The company now makes between two
thousand and three thousand a day. Just as they were on the point of a richly deserved success,
the panic of 1857 drove the
young company
into
bankruptcy. The plant was purchased by Royal E. Robbins, of the firm of
Howard went back
Robbins
& Appleton, watch
importers.
to the old factory at Roxbury, taking
with him a few trained workmen, and patiently started over again.
He
succeeded, at
last, in
producing really
watches, although in small numbers; and his as
we
shall see later, developed into the E.
Company, and
practically
watches. Meanwhile, the
all
fine
new business,
Howard Clock
abandoned the manufacture of
Waltham
•&I73B-
factory, under good
'Time Telling Through the Ages
business dent,
management and with Dennison
was
as its superinten-
safely steered past the financial rocks
and shoals
of the period, and began gradually to reap the reward of its less
It
fortunate early efforts.
was the
Civil
watches, which
upon
first set
by
its feet
War, with the
its
great military
Waltham Company
fifty
in 1860;
that date
its
name has been
A
divi-
and one of one
per cent in 1866, the short-lived
Watch Company having meanwhile been
for
squarely
justifying quantity production.
dend of five per cent was declared hundred and
demand
Nashua
absorbed. Since
twice changed
—
first,
to the
American Waltham Watch Company, and then to the
Waltham Watch Company, which
is
now its title.
At the present day, the Waltham Company employs nearly four thousand people and produces about sixtyeight thousand complete
watch-movements a month, or
over three-quarters of a million a year.
This output
is
made
possible only through the extensive
employment of automatic machines,
all
invented and manufactured at the
Even now
it is
ready-made
of which have been
Waltham
factory.
not possible to buy watch-making machinery
in the
open market;
it is all
"special" work,
designed and often built by the watch manufacturers
themselves
And
employing, at part
the development of this great industry,
first,
by hand-power,
crude devices operated for the most to the
complex automatic mechanism
-ei74^
America Learns
Make Watches
to
which seems to act almost with human
intelligence, has
been a marvelous achievement.
The company now makes movements, styles.
Of
tory. It all
more than a hundred
in
these every part
was the
first
And
is
made
different grades
and
Waltham
fac-
in the
establishment in the world in which
parts of a watch were
the same roof.
ten different sizes of regular
its
made by machinery and under
success revolutionized the methods
of watch-making not only in America but, to a less degree, in all parts of the world.
A
prominent London watch-
maker who went through the plant its
success said to his colleagues
I felt that the
:
in the early period of
"On
leaving the factory,
manufacture of watches on the old plan
was gone." And the name passed
into literature
Emerson, describing a successful type of man, is
put together
like a
Waltham watch/*
•ei75B-
when
said,
"He
CHAPTER FOURTEEN Checkered History
ONE
of those mental marvels
who can
play fifteen
simultaneous games of chess, blindfolded, might
be able to form a complete idea of the American
watch-making industry
War;
in the years that followed the Civil
that the ordinary
all
impression of change
mind can gain
is
a bewildering
and confusion, with companies
springing up, and merging or disappearing, industrial
map. Inventions were as thick
August and, to less
all
over the
as blackberries in
investors, as thorny as their stems.
Count-
revolutionary ideas in watch-making revolved briefly
few evolved, and
capitalists, large
and small, learned the
sobering lessons of experience, as capitalists ever have and
ever
will.
With defined
it all,
certain points
—among them
seem to stand out as
the fact that watch-production ap-
pealed strongly to the public mind at a time nation, galvanized into intense activity
was entering an era of extraordinary
tion.
This
of course, significant.
The
the
self-organiza-
nation's time as
well as its forests, mines, and other resources, factor in the growth of public wealth,
when
by the great con-
flict,
is,
clearly
and
must be a
this could not be
*&i76s-
<
"Quantity Production"
When
P. S. Bartlett boasted that his
in
1850
company was making
seven watches a day, his friends laughed, "PFhy, where could
you SELL seven watches a day?''
Oj8l MI "viOIT0UaOil4 YTITVIAUQ*'
ViWo'i
'^•\'^Avi5
^^5\^** ^^^A^vjSi\ i^iii'inX ijA
,v:r»^
Ki
i^A'iia^
i^'^15'^1
Checkered History unless
were widely and accurately measured, which,
It
in
turn, implied the universal use of the watch.
The
later history of
American watch-making
many
a story of the formation of
fore,
failure of
is,
companies, the
most, and survival in the case of comparatively
by men whose experi-
few. In the sense of being founded
ence had been gained at Waltham, the
Waltham Company
was more or less the parent of the majority. Of the it
may
trouble nical
Of
failures,
roughly and broadly be stated that the general
was most often
watch-making
a lack of cooperation between tech-
skill
and business management.
the occasional successes due, on the other hand, to
perfect tional
1864,
there-
harmony between
Watch Company, was one of the
these
factors, the Elgin
Na-
established at Elgin, Illinois, in
first.
Its officials
not watchmakers but business capitalists
two
and promoters were
—a group of Western
men
who organized the company at the suggestion of
men from Waltham,
a few trained
to whose technical ex-
perience and knowledge they gave entire liberty of action
from the
This combination of Western enterprise and
first.
Eastern mechanical cess.
Within
skill
six years
Company had
Was a great and immediate suc-
from
its
incorporation, the Elgin
built its factory, designed
and made
its
own
machinery, and marketed forty-two thousand watches. is
said to be the only
It
American watch company which has
paid dividends from the beginning. rs
I77^
And
yet this achieve-
'Time Telling Through the Ages
ment cannot be traced either in the
to anything strikingly distinctive
poHcy or in the product.
It
was a case of doing
rapidly and easily, with vast previous experience to build
upon, what the parent company had so long strived to accomplish, and of doing this honestly and well. In a small
way, in
it
was
like the rapid
America, having, as
it
growth of democratic principles
were, the British commonwealth
of a thousand years on which to base
The ing
itself.
period of the development of American watch-mak-
was
also the period of the rapid
sion of railroads.
railroading
The two were
and enormous expan-
naturally related, in that
demands the constant use of a great number of
watches, while
its
progress in punctuality and speed
is
in
direct proportion to the supply of reliable timekeepers. Precision is here the great essential; every passenger must have
the means of being on hand in time in order not to miss his train.
But what
is
of far greater importance, railroad
must know and keep the exact time not alone protection but in order that they
guard the
Most
lives of those
who are
own
protect and safe-
entrusted to their care.
of our great inventions and improvements can be
traced to some pressing
human
need.
shows the need.
Many
It required a disastrous
to the railroads and
make
of them, un-
some great catastrophe
fortunately, are delayed until
home
may
for their
men
wreck to bring
clear the necessity for ab-
solute accuracy in the timepieces of their employees.
•&178B-
m
Checkered History
In the year 1891 two trains on the Lake Shore Railroad
met
head-on
in
collision
near Kipton, Ohio, killing the two
engineers and several railway mail-clerks. In the investigation which followed,
the engineers differed
was
at fault
took
it
ticles
was disclosed that the watches of
it
by four minutes. The watch which
had always been accurate and so
for granted that
it
its
always would be. But tiny par-
of dust and soot find ways of seeping into the most
carefully protected
works of a watch, and every watch
should be examined and cleaned occasionally. So
with the engineer's watch.
had caused
his
A
watch to stop
That
little
cost
human
lives.
who
as a
was
for a
few minutes and then it
running
speck of dust and those few lost minutes
This wreck occurred not Ohio, then and
it
speck of coal dust, perhaps,
the jolting of the engine had probably started again.
owner
now
the
many
home
of
miles from Cleveland,
Webb
watch expert, was a witness
C. Ball, a jeweler,
in the investigation
which followed. His interest thus aroused, he worked out a plan which provided for a rigid and continuous system of railroad
watch inspection. The plan which he then pro-
posed
now
is
in operation
on practically every railroad
in
the country.
A railroad
watch must keep accurate time within thirty
seconds a week, and tion exceeds that
is
likely to be
amount
in a
condemned
month;
*&I79^
it
if its
varia-
must conform to
^ime
'Through the Ages
'Telling
certain specifications of design and only,
workmanship which
are
And
the
put into movements of a fairly high grade.
man must
railroad
and maintain
it
in
provide himself with such a timepiece
proper condition, subject to frequent
and regular inspection bythe There
is
demand
thus a compulsory
nite quality
railroad's official inspector.
watches of a
for
and performance at a reasonable
Expressly to meet
this,
defi-
price.
Watch Company,
the Hamilton
of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was organized in 1892, the
year
aifter
the wreck which started this reform. This com-
pany therefore represents an specific
purpose and concentrating upon a certain special-
demand, although
ized
enterprise founded for a
this does
not
mean
that
it is
the
only company which caters to the needs of the railroad
man.
All of the great companies produce timekeepers of the
highest precision for railroad use, but the Hamilton
pany has devoted this
one
itself
more particularly
to supplying
field.
The Gruen Watch Company, of typical of
and
Com-
still
Cincinnati, Ohio,
is
—the beautifying
another line of endeavor
refining of watch-cases
and watch-works.
Its founder,
Dietrich Gruen, was a Swiss master watchmaker. to America, as a
young man,
in 1876,
He came
married here, and
established the international industry which bears his
name. It might be said that
his
watch
is
product, as the Gruen movements are
not an American
made
at
Madre-
•&1803-
I
Checkered History Biel, in Switzerland,
and then sent over to America to be
and marketed. Perhaps the most notable
cased, adjusted,
contribution of this
company to the watchmaking industry-
was to inaugurate the modern thin type of watch. This was evolved by Frederick, the son of Dietrich Gruen, and \vas
made
possible
by the inverting of the
watch, so that the whole train runs in
was previously
third wheel of the
much
less space. than
required.
These four companies arc by no means the only successful ones,
but they do typify the general trend of develop-
ment of the American watch industry from 1850 the end of the nineteenth century,
when
greater era in the history of timekeeping
The
a
until near
new and even
was inaugurated.
story of this development will be considered in later
chapters. In the period then closed, however, the ideal of
Dennison and Howard, which most people then regarded as
an impossibility, was realized to a degree which they
themselves would never have thought possible. Dennison died in 1898 and
Howard
in 1904.
Although watch-making
is
the creation of European
genius and was rooted in European experience, with
boundless capital at
its
command and
carried
munities trained for generations in the craft,
country that
it
has been brought to
its fullest
on
in
it is
com-
in this
modern de-
velopment. The census figures, while incomplete and some-
what misleading,
are expressive of the
-§l8iB-
amount of growth
Time and of
its
Telling Through the Ages
nature. According to these figures there were in
1869 thirty-seven watch companies in the United States,
employing eighteen hundred and sixteen wage earners, or an average of
less
than
fifty
bined product was valued at
In 1914, the
were but
last
fifteen
workmen; and
less
their
than three million
com-
dollars.
normal year before the Great War, there
such companies; the law of the survival of
the fittest had been operating. But these fifteen employed
an average of over eight hundred people, or twelve thousand three hundred and ninety in
all,
and the combined
value of their product was stated as over fourteen million dollars.
These
figures are far
below reality
in that
they do
not include the large volume of watches produced in clock factories.
American watch-making
is
typical of the difference be-
tween the American and European industry teenth century. Here a complete watch factory, while in England, Switzerland
is
in the nine-
produced
in
one
and France most
establishments specialize in the manufacture of particular parts and these parts are then assembled in other factories.
Some
fifty different trades there are
produce the parts.
And
working separately to
the manufacturer, whose
work
is
chiefly that of finishing and assembling, takes a large profit for inspection
By
and
for the prestige of his
name.
the American system, a thousand watches are pro-
duced proportionately more cheaply than a dozen; and a •ei82B*
Checkered History
thousand of uniform model more cheaply than a
like
num-
ber of various sizes and designs. Automatic machines tend
economy of labor and uniformity of
to
excellence.
The
saving begins with the cost of material and ends with the ease and quickness of repairs due to the standardization of parts.
Lord Grimthorpe said "There can be no doubt that :
is
the best as well as the cheapest
way of making machines
which require precision. Although labor ica
this
is
dearer in Amer-
than here, their machinery enables them to undersell
English watches of the same quality." It
now remained
for
American ingenuity and enterprise
to level the ramparts of special privilege in the world of time-telling
by producing an accurate and
in sufficient quantity
practical
watch
and at a price so low as to place
within the reach of all.
•&I833-
it
CHAPTER FIFTEEN '"The
Watch That Wound Forever''''
THE
most important development
in
any
affair is
naturally the one which concerns the greatest
number of people
people. In the United States,
who count and
it is
the
nothing can be considered wholly
American which does not concern the mass of the population.
We
have already seen how watch-movements were
brought to a high degree of accuracy, and have followed
some of the steps by which the industry was developed
in
the United States, but there remained one great step to be taken, and that
was the putting of an accurate watch with-
in the financial reach of almost every person. in which this
The way
was brought about was thoroughly American.
In 1875, Jason R^ Hopkins, of Washington, D.
many months
C,
after
of patient labor, perfected the model of a
watch which he thought could be constructed for fifty cents each.
He
in quantities
secured a patent on his model, and
with Edward A. Locke, of Boston, and
W. D.
Washington, sought to interest the Benedict
Colt, of
& Burnham
Manufacturing Company, of Waterbury, Connecticut, its
in
manufacture. Failing in this, Locke
abandoned further
effort so far as
"The Watch That Wound Forever* the Hopkins* model was concerned. Hopkins, however,
continued, and finally succeeded in enlisting the active
support and financial resources of
man
of wealth and leisure,
W.
B. Fowle, a gentle-
who owned
a fine estate at
Auburndale, Massachusetts. This led to the formation of the Auburndale
Watch Company. Within a few
Fowle had sunk
his entire fortune of
years,
more than 3250,000
in the enterprise,
and the Hopkins watch had proved a
complete
In 1883 both Fowle and the Watch
failure.
Company made
assignments.
There are many who
still
remember the great Centennial
Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876, celebrating the one
hundredth anniversary of the declaration of American Independence. Those
who were
there
esting exhibit of a huge steam-engine
huge at that time engine
—and,
—so tiny that
it
may
—
recall the inter-
at least,
it
in a glass case near by, a tiny
could be completely covered
small thimble. This midget steam engine, with
was the big
its boiler. It
fineness of
was a
engine. Three drops of water
striking
workmanship,
it
that,
interesting thing about this
unknown
mocracy
in the
to
its
its
would
fill
designer,
Kingdom of
it
skill
tools. little
heralded the
engine was
dawn
Time-telling, just as
*&i85S*
and
had been made under a
watchmaker's microscope with jeweler's
The most
of
all
example of mechanical for
by a
its boiler,
governor, and pumps, was just as complete in parts as
seemed
of Deit
then
'Time Telling Through the Ages
was helping
to celebrate the birth of American freedom. In
the spring of 1877,
two years
before, as
Edward A. Locke, of Boston, who
we have
seen,
had been interested
the Hopkins' watch, visited the neighboring city of cester,
and while
strolling along the
main
street, in
Wora
window
surely manner, he chanced to glance in the
in
lei-
of a
watch-repairer's shop. There he saw the tiny engine which
had excited so much wonder and admiration
at the Phila-
delphia exposition the year before.
For
many months, Locke and
of Brooklyn,
New
his friend
George Merritt,
York, had been thinking and dreaming
of the possibility of supplying the long-felt and rapidly-
growing need for a low-priced watch
—a pocket-timepiece
that could be sold for three or four dollars.
watch
in
America
The cheapest
at that time cost ten or twelve.
searched in vain for a watchmaker
who was
They had
ingenious or
courageous enough, or both, to attempt the making of such a timepiece.
Fascinated by the marvelous into the shop
little
engine,
Locke stepped
and spoke to the lone workman
at the
bench
near the window. This obscure and humble watch repairer
was D. A. A. Buck, the proprietor of the shop and designer of the engine,
who was soon
to gain
renown
as the
inventor of the famous Waterbury watch.
For the sum of one hundred dollars Buck agreed to study the problem, and,
if
possible, design for
Locke a watch
•&i86b*
II
"ne
which would meet
many
Wound
Forever'
his requirements.
Day and
Watch
T'hat
night, for
weeks, he labored at this task, and finally sub-
mitted a model. It was not satisfactory.
Worn by fell
ill.
his labors
Some days
joyfully told
him
and disappointed by
later,
his failure,
he
Mrs. Buck sought out Locke and
that her husband had worked out a
new
design which he believed would correct the defects of the
former model and that, as soon as he recovered, he would begin work upon
it.
Within a few months he had completed
a second model. This time he was successful.
Then began
the struggle of Locke and his associates to
interest capital in the
new
Most of the
enterprise.
pre-
liminary funds and factory space were provided by the
Benedict
& Burnham
Manufacturing Company, a brass
manufacturing concern at Waterbury, Connecticut, and the predecessor of the present
Waterbury Clock Company.
Thus the new watch came to be known
as the Waterbury.
Within the next twenty-eight months
many thousands
of dollars had been raised and expended before a single
watch could be turned out that the
for sale. It
Waterbury Watch Company was
porated and ready for business.
produced
was not
its first
Then
until 1880
finally incor-
the factory proudly
thousand watches. They were perfectly
good-looking watches, but they had one important weakness
—they would not run, because, as
it
was found, the
sheets of brass used in stamping out the wheels
-&i87§-
had an
'Time 'Telling Through the Ages
unfortunate grain, and the wheels would not remain true.
Another thousand were made with
this defect corrected.
This time most of the watches would keep time, but there
was a
still
large percentage of "stoppers." After
study, experiment, and expense, the product until only
really
was a wonderfully simple
different
was improved
about ten per cent of the watches refused to run,
and the Waterbury watch was It
more
on the market.
piece of
mechanism, very
from the ordinary watch. The whole works turned
round inside of the case once every hour, carrying the hour-
hand with them. The mainspring was outside of the
movement,
coiled
round the
so that the case formed a barrel,
and was wound by the stem.
It
had the old duplex escape-j
ment of the days of Tompion and the
dial
was printed on!
paper, covered with celluloid and glued to the plate.
had only not
fifty-eight parts,
much
to look at, but
low price of four It
kept time surprisingly well, was]
was
sold at the then unheard-of
dollars.
was put on the market with
Some
of us
real
Yankee
ingenuity.!
remember when Waterbury watches were given!
away with youngsters,
suits of clothes,
we
and the pride with which,
exhibited our
to our playmates
who were
first
chief joys,
less fortunate.
and our friends often
of helping in the operation.
Some
*&i88s*
asj
watches thus obtainedj
The
nine-fool
mainspring required unlimited winding, which was one its
It]
of
solicited the privilege
of the more ingenious
Watch
*'The
among
'That
Wound
Forever*
us held the corrugated stem against the side of a
fence and
made
the watch wind
itself
by running along the
fence's length, while other children looked
on enviously.
In spite of the disadvantage of the time necessary for winding, perhaps in part because of
it,
the Waterbury
watch became famous the world over and reached a very large sale for its day. It
was more or
trivance. People spoke of
it
their performances
by
saying,
in a sleeping-car,
and then passing
wind
it
of a freak con-
with a smile. Minstrels opened
"We come from Waterbury,
the land of eternal spring"; and there
bury owner
less
is
a story of a Water-
winding until his arm ached
to a total stranger, saying, "Here,
you
with the result that the stranger
this for a while,"
placed a large order for Waterbury watches to be sold his
agency
in China.
At the time that the Waterbury watch was world had advanced to a point
lished, the
mating the
which had
by
life
fairly approxi-
of to-day. All the marvels of invention
lifted so
the shoulders of
well estab-
much
of the earth's manual labor from
mankind and which had been expected to
shorten working-hours and to cheapen products until the
standards of living of
all classes
would be raised through
the possession of beneficial products inexpensively pro-
duced
—these had gone
far
system. Machinery had labor.
The
toward establishing the factory
come
into vogue in place of
hand
steam-engine, the sewing-machine, the
rail-
'Time 'Telling 'Through the Ages
way, the steamboat, the cotton-gin, the threshing-machine
and the harvester, were indispensable
aids.
Photography
and typewriting were novelties no longer, and the phonograph was becoming familiar. Electricity had taken
its
place as one of man's most valuable servants, able to
transmit his messages, furnish him with power, and turn his night into day.
These are but a few of the countless im-
provements that had contributed to the rapid
rise
of this
country as a manufacturing nation instead of one chiefly
I
agricultural.
Millions had already found
employment
in the factories,
the transportation systems, and other collective-labor establishments. Schools had multiplied throughout the
country. Trains, for the most part, were run on schedule time. Business offices,
accompanying the development of
the great industrial concerns, employed thousands.
The
department store was beginning to appear. Public-utility organizations and government departments were growing
complex and extensive. Thus, in every direction a
stirring
impetus was being
given toward those intricate modern conditions which de-
pend upon the watch. The
lives of nearly all people
beginning to be touched by
affairs
that
demanded common
—the
punctuality a number of times every day
opening factory, school,
office
were
hour of
or store, the keeping of ap-
pointments, the closing of banks and of mails, and the •51903-
"The Watch departure of trains.
The times were
a closer watch on time.
common
the
modern itself
life,
Wound
'That
From
Forever"
bursting with need for
the industrial president to
laborer and school-child the pressure of
with
increasingly
its
demand
for punctuality,
felt.
Yet, strangely enough, watches were luxuries. It
was not yet
crat
still
still
regarded as
realized that they belonged
the implements which the daily
notion
was making
held that the watch
life
required of
all.
was the mark of the
—a piece of jewelry rather than
an
a thing more for display than for use.
among
The
aristo-
article of utility,
And
the prices of
good watches, according to the standards of the day, were such as to perpetuate the idea. It
is
istics,
no wonder then that,
crude character-
the low-priced Waterbury watch attained a consid-
A watch was
erable sale. sion
in spite of its
among average
a novelty, an
uncommon
posses-
people, and anything approximating
a real watch was assured of a large sale
if
within reach of
the ordinary purse. Therefore, the commercial failure of the
Waterbury Watch Company involves something more
than a mere business
failure.
Here
is
something which text-
book economists may well undertake to
explain, since the
article
was good, the need unsupplied, the competition
feeble,
and the
enjoyed an
profit satisfactory.
initial success
ity, its sale
gradually
The Waterbury watch
but, in spite of satisfactory qual-
fell
away,
•fti9ie*
until,
notwithstanding
'^ime 'Telling several refinancings
trough
the
Ages
and changes of management, unde-
served failure ultimately overtook the
first
low-priced
watch-venture. It was not the manufacturing problems,
such as had overcome Howard and had sorely tried Dennison, but the problems of distribution
which were the
undoing of the Waterbury Company, and here the importance and power of the middleman stand out in an instructive
The
way.
conditions of the age
demanded a cheap watch.
Things to come could not eventuate except through the ability of everyone to
measure
his minutes.
Almost from
announcement, the Waterbury sprang into de-
its first
mand, but
later
succumbed to
false policies of sales.
Eager-
ness for the large and easy orders, which were momentarily attractive but finally fatal, spelled ruin.
When
first
put out, the watch was sold through stores at
a very moderate price and proved to be such a sensation that
it
bringer
suggested
itself to
when offered
as a
ingenious merchants as a trade-
premium with other goods.
Sam Lloyd, the famous puzzle-man, was among those who saw this possibility and he devised a scheme which resulted in the giving-away of hundreds of thousands of
Waterburys;
it
consisted of puzzles printed on cards. These
puzzles were so simple and yet so cleverly designed that
while anyone could solve them, each thought himself a genius for his success in doing
so.
-§1928-
Lloyd's idea was to take
"jTA^
Watch
T'hat
Wound
his puzzles to clothing stores all
Forever'^
over the country and
sell
might
dis-
them with watches,
in order that those dealers
tribute the puzzles
all
over town, together with an an-
nouncement of a guessing-contest. Each
upon return of the puzzle with
testant,
privileged to
buy a
watch with
free of charge.
it
suit of clothes
Such was the magic of a watch
successful con-
its
solution,
and get a Waterbury
in those
days that the
Waterbury boomed the business of hundreds of who, as
of the
were
add more than the cost of the watch to the price
suit.
spread
clothiers,
in nearly all something-for-nothing schemes,
careful to
it
was
Nevertheless the idea took so well that Lloyd
into Europe, China,
and other parts of the world.
Thus, the Waterbury watch became a familiar object in
many
lands. Adaptations of the scheme, applied to other
wares, were carried out
by him and by others
until give-
away propositions became the main channel of distribution for these watches. For a time, such
methods flourished and
the regular trade of ordinary watch-dealers correspondingly languished.
But,
finally,
the scheme-idea lost
novelty and pulling power. People would not forever clothes in order to get watches. In the process, the
its
buy
Water-
bury name had become a byword
for tricks in all trades.
Shoddy
clothes at all-wool prices
had become associated
with
in people's
it
minds.
They stopped buying
these
watches in ordinary stores because others "gave" them •&193S*
^ime
Celling 'Through the Ages
away. Regular dealers cut the prices to get stocks,
and
this led to further demoralization
rid of their
because cus-
tomers never knew whether or not they were buying at the
bottom
price.
Dealers could
make no money on them under
such market conditions and, because of this and of their
shady association with give-away
name became
deals, the
Waterbury
a stench in the nostrils of the legitimate
trade.
Thus, when the scheme-trade died away and the com-
pany again turned it
had forgotten
welcome.
It
its
attention to the watch-dealers
in the flush of its easy success,
had forsaken
and was now forsaken
its
in return. After floundering
investment for
name was abandoned and
New new
the
its
about
in
and causing the
backers, the
Waterbury
company reorganized
England Watch Company. As such fields
found no
it
source of steady customers
several further reversals of trade policy loss of further
whom
it
as the
ventured into
of watch manufacture and off^ered an elaborate
variety of small and fancy watches and cases, and numer-
ous models,
sizes,
and
styles of movements sold
Never did
ing marketing pohcies.
sound footing, however,
for
it
reliable, low-priced,
vacillat-
attain a genuinely
vacated
mental and distinctive usefulness, a
it
on
viz.,
its field
of funda-
the production of
simple watch, to meet the advancing
requirements of its day;
it
had gone back to the view-point
of the watch as an ostentatious or ornamental bit of •ei94B^
"2"A^
Watch That Wound
Forever'''
vanity.
Hence the old Waterbury business was compelled
to close
its
the Great firm
doors,
in the fall of 1914, the first year of
War, was bought out
who had
replaced
for the masses. its
and
it
at a receiver's sale
in the field of supplying
by a
watches
This firm rededicated the organization to
original mission,
modernized
its
mechanical equipment,
and revived the Waterbury name after a lapse of twenty years, until to-day, through the
sales-methods, the factory
was
is
employment of judicious
more
in its earlier days.
-&I9SS
successful than ever
it
CHAPTER SIXTEEN "The Watch That^JlfCade
the T>ollar
Famous^''
THE
that
next development it is
is
so typically
difficult to picture it as
American
occurring in any
other country. Heretofore, the history of timepieces had been that of an easily traceable evolution, for each of its steps
naturally out of those before
and the various improve-
it,
ments had been made by mechanics trained
Yet now, strange to
relate,
had grown
in the craft.
two young men from a Mich-
igan farm, with no mechanical training, entered the
almost in a casual manner, and in
less
field
than a generation
not only became the world's largest manufacturers of
watches but effected the most radical development in
whole story of telling time
—involving, as
it
the
did, the intro-*
duction of interchangeable parts, quantity-production,
and a low These
price.
results
might seem at
of accidental good fortune.
first,
On the
example of evolution quite as
to be due to a matterj
contrary, they were an"
logical as
any that had
preceded and were perhaps even more significant.
The
whole development came as the direct product of observe
1963-
— "^he Watch That Made
Famous"
the Dollar
vatlon, analysis, initiative, perseverance, and hard
work
the element of good luck being conspicuously absent. All history gives evidence of the occasional need of a
impulse derived from outside, and bringing with
any development
rate of speed ple
and to spend
who have brought
it
a fresh
human
view-point. There seems to be a tendency in prise for
it
new
enter-
after a time to lose its original itself in complexities.
about appear to
The peo-
lose their
power
to see things simply and in a big way; and, on the contrary,
they grow technical and occupy themselves with minor details.
Whereupon the
progress of development becomes
slower and slower, and threatens to stop entirely.
over and over again, there
some
fresh
restores
new
force
is
Then
the record of the advent of
from an unexpected direction which
youth and vigor.
In the
last
decade of the nineteenth century, watch-
making seemed ready ready seen,
it
for such
an impulse. As we have
al-
had long been developing from within along
technical and professional lines. Excellent pieces that were marvels of accurate
produced. That part of
its
and costly time-
mechanism had been
work had been
the industry was in danger of losing
Watches were being viewed more as
its
well done, but
human
articles of
ture and merchandise than as of wide-spread
touch.
manufac-
human
ser-
vice in meeting a general public need.
In a sense, therefore, the industry was unconsciously
'Time Telling Through the Ages
waiting the coming of a non-technical public at
first
who was
man who knew
hand and understood people's requirements,
not fettered by tradition,
who had
by a fore-knowledge of
difficulties. It
actly this vision which Robert H. Ingersoll
dustry and he developed
it
a vision of
who was
universal marketing and distribution, and
held back
the
was
not ex-
had of the
with the assistance
first
in-
of his
brother, Charles H. and later of his nephew, William H.
He
did not "discover" the dollar watch, as
but grew toward It
it
came about,
many
think,
during the course of a dozen years.
as already stated, in a
typically American.
Young
manner that was
Ingersoll left his father's
farm
near Lansing, Michigan, in 1879, at the age of nineteen,
and went to tirely
New York
to seek his fortune.
He was
en-
without technical training save in farming, but he
had a considerable first-hand knowledge of the needs and desires of
what Lincoln
called the
'^common people."
Finding employment for a time, he saved One Hundred
and Sixty Dollars, and, with
this large capital, started in
business for himself in the manufacture and sale of rubber
stamps. Before long he was able to send back to Michigan for his
younger brother, Charles H. Being of an inventive
turn of mind, he devised a toy typewriter which attained
a considerable sale as a dollar
article.
This was followed by
a patented pencil, a dollar sewing-machine, a patent keyring
and other novelties of his own
creation.
"^he Watch That Made
the Dollar
Famous"
In the course of time, the products of other manufacturers
were added to the
list.
Thus the brothers soon found
themselves with an embryo manufacturing and wholesale
The
jobbing business.
business grew, and the next develop-
ment was that of a mail-order department. In
this
branch
they were pioneers and preceded by some years the famous mail-order houses of Chicago and elsewhere. Their catalog
ran into editions of millions of copies. Next, the Ingersolls
became pioneers
in
another sales-plan.
They developed
the
chain-stores idea, starting with a retail specialty store in
New
York, and following
it
with
six others. Incidentally,
they found themselves among the largest wholesale and retail
dealers
in
the country in bicycles and bicycle
supplies.
All of this
was a strange but none the
less effective
preparation for watch-making and the marketing
watches by millions. Robert Ingersoll, in the selling little
about
engaged
of
who had remained
and promoting end of the business, knew watches,
in traveling
but
since
was
he
constantly
about the country and in talking with
merchants and others, he was gaining a great fund of
knowledge as to
human needs and market
possibilities.
Presently he became convinced that his business, in spite of
its
fied
It
prosperity, lacked something vital.
He grew dissatis-
with handling a succession of unimportant novelties.
began to dawn upon
his
mind that these things were
-§i99B-
'Time Telling Through the Ages
hardly worth while as a subject for a business, since they satisfied
must
only passing fancies on the part of the public.
something which was really worth while, some-
find
thing which
yet in a
He
filled
new way.
human need on
a real
a large scale and
If this something could be found,
and
the incredibly large buying power of the great American public could be focused upon
it,
there
was hardly any limit
to the business which would result.
When this belief had crystallized in the form of a definite conclusion, he began at once to search for the "big idea."
The "big
idea" had long been waiting for
state of mind. It
had been looking him
there
this
many
in the face for
days had he but been ready to perceive
On
him to reach
it.
the wall of his room in a Brooklyn boarding-house
hung a very small "Bee"
clock. It
was unobtrusive
and apparently unimportant. He had glanced
at
it
hun-
dreds of times with no thought beyond that of learning the time. Suddenly,
it
ceased to be a clock and became an
open door into the future.
Its ticking
became
articulate
with a new meaning.
"Everyone wishes to
tell
time,"
one of the millions who crowd the ways, or spread over the country
it
said.
cities,
"There
is
not
travel the high-
districts,
who
does not
wish repeatedly during his waking-hours to know what
time
it is.
often he
is
Sometimes he not.
is
in sight of a clock,
Here and there
is
-§200 3-
a
but more
man with a watch
in his
A T'his picture
Glimpse of a Giant Industry
shows one corner of
the
huge plants which produce
twenty thousand Ingersoll watches a day.
Time
Telling Through the Ages
haraiy v orth while as a subject for a business, since they \
,
:
only passing fancies on the part of the public.
something which was really worth while, some-
rind
t
ihing which yet in a
He
filled
new way.
human need on
a real
a large scale and
If this something could be found,
and
the incredibly large buying power of the great American public could be focused
upon
it,
there
was hardly any limit
to the business which would result.
When this
belief
had crystallized
in the form of a definite
conclusion, he began at once to search for the **big idea."
The "big
idea" had long been waiting for
state of mind. It
had been looking him
there
the wall of his
room
many
it.
Brooklyn boarding-house
in a
hung a very small *'Bee"
to reach this
in the face for
days had he but been ready to perceive
On
him
clock. It
was unobtrusive
and apparently unimportant. He had glanced
at
it
hun-
dreds of times with no thought beyond that of learning the time. Suddenly,
it
ceased to be a clock and became an
open door into the future. with
;i
Its ticking
articulate
new meaning.
''Everyone wishes to
tell
time,"
one of the millions who crowd the ways, or spread over the country
wish repeatedly during time
became
it is.
often he
is
Sometimes he not.
his is
said,
cities,
"There
is
nui
travel the high-
districts,
who
does not
waking-hours to know what in sight of a clock,
Here and there
is
YiiTsuaMl T>iAiO- AO^(S-
•V^s*^ x>
it
a
but more
man with a watch in his
aaiMuO A
i^A-iia^ \\oi*^^^iv\ ^wjiiijoAi ^ix^"^wi
"The Watch That Made pocket.
Famous''
the Dollar
That man has a chance to be
efficient;
but good
watches cost money, and most people cannot afford them.
Here
am
I,
keeper and
a tiny I
for a dollar,
am
little
cheap.
ticking clock; I
Make me
a
am
little
a good time-
smaller, sell
me
and you can put the time into everyone's
pocket."
At
this point, the non-technical
about watches, but
man, who knew nothing
who understood human needs,
realized
that something had happened; he pondered deeply and
began to investigate. He took the ist in
clock to a machin-
Ann Street, New York, and together they studied the
possibility of reducing
ently
little
it
it
in thickness
was discovered that both the
and diameter. Pres-
New Haven
and the
Waterbury Clock Companies had already produced ticles
that embodied these conditions. This somewhat
checked enthusiasm until these products field.
ar-
was an
it
was
recalled that neither of
especial factor in the time-telling
The manufacturers had merely made mechanisms;
they had not grasped the Big Idea of universal service.
The timepiece smaller,
of the Waterbury
Company was
and Robert Ingersoll decided to
order market, buying
first,
eighty-five cents each,
thousand more. These
the
test his mail-
one thousand clock-watches at
and afterward contracting for ten articles
were offered
in the mail-
order catalog for 1892 at a dollar each, for the sake of price-uniformity with the other dollar specialties •&20IB*
upon
'Time 'Telling Through the Ages
which the firm was concentrating. This was done, however, in a small
way.
was not desired to
It
sell
too
an unprofitable margin, but merely to
watch
idea,
many on
such
test the dollar-
hoping that manufacturing charges might
ultimately be brought
down through quantity
production.
These so-called "watches" must not be confused with the Waterbury watch; that, as already described, had been the output of another company.
by the
and bearing
Ingersolls
The "watches" marketed
their
name were
thick, noisy, sturdy little pocket-clocks,
back.
They were crude and clumsy
in reality
wound from
affairs
the
compared with
present-day styles but were, nevertheless, reliable timekeepers.
The
public responded to the idea of dollar watches, al-
though these proved to nickel,
and
added.
The next
and the odd
still
faster
year,
little
stamped upon
its
sell
when
than
faster in gilt cases
a five-cent
gilt
came the World's Fair
in
chain was
Chicago
in
mechanism with an appropriate design cover attracted some attention from the
visitors.
Thus was born the slight
Ingersoll watch, although
resemblance to the watch of to-day. This
is
it
bore
due to
the fact that an immediate policy of experiment and im-
provement was inaugurated. During these changes, however, several points remained fixed.
One of these was that
the watch must be in no respect a plaything, but a practical •§202§»
"The Watch That Made
the Dollar
Famous"
accurate timekeeper, not liable easily to get out of order.
The second was the
definite association
one dollar, so that
became
it
ously as *'the watch that third
was that
it
with the price of
possible to refer to
made
it
humor-
the dollar famous;'* and the
should have a sturdy ruggedness of con-
would defy ordinary hard usage.
struction that
Each of these points had
its social
value
—that of the
last-named being the fact that the dollar price put the possession of a real timepiece within the reach of multi-
tudes
who were engaged
delicate timepiece
in
forms of activity wherein a
would be apt to get out of order.
The IngersoUs soon became convinced worthy object
for promotion,
that they had a
and they did not entertain
the slightest doubt as to the existence of a waiting public.
There passed before their minds a picture of the millions of farm-boys
who
did not
know when
into dinner, of the millions of
ing to guide
them
lions of clerks
it
was time to come
working-men who had noth-
in reaching the factory
on time, of mil-
and school-children and of still other millions
comprising the bulk of American homes where more good timepieces were needed.
Their problem, therefore, resolved divisions
—those
itself into
of manufacture and those of
two main sale.
The
manufacturing end involved a contract with the great plant of the
Waterbury Clock Company, by which
was to produce the goods according to the •&203S*
this factory-
specifications
'Time Telling Through the Ages
and under the name, trade-mark, and patents of the Ingersolls.
This arrangement continues to this day, but has been
supplemented, as the
line
has become more extended, by
the acquirement of two factories of their own, one in
Waterbury, Connecticut, and one in Trenton, sey.
New
Jer-
To-day the three plants produce an aggregate of
about twenty thousand watches a day. Before such manufacturing results could be obtained, however, there were
many as
it
structural problems to be solved. It
was not
so easy
sounds to build a practical and accurate watch within
the narrow limits of a dollar and
still
leave a profit for
both the manufacturer and dealer.
The
solution began with the adoption of the "lantern-
pinion," but the principal difficulty baffled
both Howard and Dennison
was that which had
—the problem of pro-
ducing the extremely minute separate watch-parts in large quantities
by machinery, and yet with such
cision that all parts of one kind should
changeable.
By
said that
be absolutely inter-
dint of unwearied patience and-
scientific research, this is
exquisite pre-
problem was
Henry Ford got
finally solved,
much and
it
his idea of quantity-production
from the manufacture of the Ingersoll watch. Incidentally, it
was demonstrated that low production-costs carry with
them high wages. In the
field
was more necessary than the
of watchmaking, no element
skill
of well-paid workers.
In the meantime, the public was waiting, but -&204S'
it
did not
"ne
Watch That Made
the Dollar
Famous'*
know
that
quite
unaware that mechanical and manufacturing prob-
it
was waiting.
lems were being solved in millions standing about their lives
It
its
was going about
behalf.
its
business
There were no eager
demanding watches
in order that
might be run more closely upon an
efficient
schedule. Therefore, simultaneously with the consideration
of mechanical and manufacturing problems came those of sale,
which
will
be discussed in the next chapter.
*&2058-
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN "Putting Fifty <:JYCillion
Watches
Into Service
THIS
were purely a story of the development of
IF
timepieces as mechanisms, there would be
little
to add
to the preceding chapter, save to detail the refinements
and improvements by which a cheap, clumsy, but
watch gradually discarded virtues,
and the manner
riety of styles
and
its
in
sizes.
defects, while retaining its
which
it
developed into a va-
Essentially, however, this
story of Man and Time, of human needs as served
The most
pieces.
case
is
like a stove
service,
perfect piece of
without a
mechanism
fire; it is
whose value does not begin
We have
reliable
arrived, then, at a time
a
mere
is
a
by time-
in a
show-
possibility of set to
work.
until
it is
when
a small percent-
age of the total population carried accurate timepieces and
was able to
profit
by the more
actions thus secured.
We
efficient
adjustment of
its
have seen how the promising
experiment of the Waterbury Watch
Company
failed in
an attempt to equip the masses with watches, principally through defects
in its
system of distribution, and we have
noted the appearance of another low-priced watch dedicated to a similar experiment.
i
Putting Fifty Million Watches Into Service It is obvious, therefore, that if the Ingersoll firm
ready been able to place
fifty million
has
al-
separate watches in
the service of humanity, something unprecedented must
have taken place It
in the all-important field of distribution.
significant that
is
Robert H. Ingersoll
first
called his
watch the ^'Universal;" indeed,
his chief contribution to
the development of the watch
the idea of universality, a
is
word that makes us think more of people than of manufacturers' methods.
versal in
Having, then, a watch that was unias well as in
its possibilities
keenly aware, through his
own
tastes
name, and being
and experiences, of
the needs of the vast mass of the public, his greatest prob-
lem became that of universal distribution; a selling-problem. At
first,
was
there could be no definitely
formulated plan; various methods must
From
in short, it
first
be tried out.
these experiences there gradually arose an adequate
system of reaching the millions of people
who needed
watches.
In
this,
Mr.
Ingersoll
had
the pioneer, the salesman, the promoter,
men
in the widest sense
He was the one who knew
effective cooperation.
and had the faculty of getting
re-
sults.
His brother, Charles H., was the internal adminis-
trator
and constant counselor. Later, there was added to
the firm a nephew, William H.,
who was both
a student
and an analyst. He scrutinized trade-tendencies, deduced theories
from what he saw, and gave them wide applica-&207-3-
'Timd Telling 'Through the Ages tion in actual tests.
worked out
sales-principles
treatment
equal
—words
to
of equal opportunity and
had long constituted
that
a
but were something of a novelty as
slogan in politics applied
Together the members of the firm
business. In other words, they based their
plans upon the consumer rather than upon the factory,
and upon the idea of goods sold through the trade rather than their it
to
the trade. It took some time, however, to perfect
system of distribution but, when
finally developed,
was the outgrowth of wide and varied experience.
The firm made its
own
its first sales-efforts
mail-order catalog.
The
on the watch through
results
couragement, but proved that in
brought some en-
itself this
method could
never bring the volume of sales necessary for a highgeared, uniform quantity of production.
The next channels" displayed lines,
recourse
—the
so-called "regular trade-
jobbers and retailers. But these dealers
little interest.
They were not promoters
of
new
but distributors of those for which a market already
existed. retailers
The jobber
sold
what the
retailers required; the
what the public demanded. Robert
original loud-ticking light of a curiosity it
was to the
Ingersoll's
watch impressed them more
in the
than as a trade-possibility. In particular
failed to appeal to]the, jewelers, since
they
felt it
to be
out of keeping with the beauty and value which characterized their stocks of jewelry
and silverware. They rea-
Type of the Finest American Watch
I
Waterbury Radiolite Time in the Dark"
Tells
Twentieth Century Watches Here
is
represented the final stage in the development of
timepieces.
accuracy and
modern
'Though of graceful lines, they are designed for utility^
and
are ranged in price
to fit
every purse.
laboM
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Putting Fifty Million Watches Into Service soned, also, that sales of the fere
new timepiece would
inter-
with those of their higher-priced watches, thus failing
to grasp the fact, since proved to be true, that
would greatly enlarge the sphere of
their sales
its
use
through
cultivating a general watch-carr\-ing habit.
Some
effort
was made with outside
trades, but these
generally considered watches to be out of their
line.
theless, in the course of time, persistent effort
bring results. Occasionally jobbers
made
Never-
began to
purchases, and
here and there a jeweler or hardware dealer offered the
watches for
some money first
sale.
the firm
felt justified in
Many
Ingersoll watch,
spending
began to learn
for advertising, the public
hand of the
increased.
When
and the
at
sales gradually
people, however, expressed doubt as to
the quality of a timepiece that could be sold for a dollar,
and the Ingersolls replied with a guarantee that has
since
become famous Then,
in the natural course of business,
competition de-
veloped from the marketing of inferior goods, and the firm
found
it
necessar}- to place
its
name on
poses of identification. In spite of
all
the dial for purdifficulties,
there
grew up
in course of
mand.
hereupon certain dealers undertook privately to
\A
tune a ven,' considerable public de-
raise the price in order to increase their profits.
tion
was met by emphasizing the
on the boxes and
price
This situa-
more prominently
in the advertising, a policy
which soon
'Time Telling Through the Ages
put an end to price-raising but
led, in
some
instances, to
The
the even greater difficulty of price-cutting.
known became
better
the price, the greater became the tempta-
tion to dealers of a certain class to advertise its reduction in order to bolster
up
^'bargains'*
upon other goods. This
naturally demoralized the sales of neighboring dealers and
caused them to lose interest in the
line.
Thus, instead of
increasing the sales, the reduced price proved a serious selling obstacle
The same
difficulty
has been
encountered by other
manufacturers of widely advertised goods, and some of
them have sought through the
courts to compel adherence
to their prices, the argument being, as in the case of the Ingersoll
watch, that price-cutting does not serve the inter-
ests of the public
but tends to interfere with
obstructs the channels of distribution.
question in
its
legal
At
sales since
it
this writing, the
phase has not yet reached a
final
decision in the courts, but the Ingersolls have solved
it
in
a practical way, since their trade-policies have brought
about the voluntary cooperation of the
retailers.
Such cooperation, however, was not to be attained once. It
came about through much study and
after
experience. It involved the assembling of a large
at
much
amount of
data upon commercial economics and a deep inquiry into the fundamental principles of retail distribution. It proved
necessary to weigh and compare recent and important
l|
Putting Fifty Million Watches Into Service factors in the retail situation.
many
fact that so
For example, because of the
manufacturers were giving indiscrim-
inate discounts for quantity purchases, profitable to establish
it
huge department
had become
stores,
and mail-order houses whose
made
possible to handle goods in large amounts.
it
For a time, the
scale of operation
common
gave discounts for purchases
facturers,
as the business
more
Ingersolls, in
grew and
its
scientifically studied,
chain-
stores,
with other manu-
in quantity; later,
distribution problems were
they saw more clearly the
way
which the principles of equal opportunity and equal
in
treatment could be applied. It
was
in this spirit that the firm
began to ask
whether the large distributors were really more than the small extra
retailers;
if all retail
izations
—
it
efficient
whether they actually earned the
amount which they were paid
and whether
itself
for selling each watch,
would be a healthful thing
for the country
business were transacted through such organ-
in short,
whether
restrictions to such a
system
were really consistent with the theory of commercial democracy.
Approached from
this standpoint, the
to be in the negative. all
A
careful research
sections of the country
among
stores in
showed unmistakably that the
cost of selling in a small store
department
answer was found
was actually
less
than
in the
store, the chain-store, or the mail-order house.
^ime Viewing the tion,
it
Telling Through the
sale of
Ages
each watch as an individual transac-
was seen that a small
store in
some
far-off
country
gave quite as valuable service as did a large store
village
in
a metropolis, and therefore should be paid as much. Consequently, the Ingersolls introduced a selling-plan which,]
under the conditions, was as revolutionary retail
in the field of
distribution as the discovery of Galileo
in that of clock
mechanism. Yet
flat-price schedule; in other
it
words,
had beenj
was merely that of
it
was a provision
thai
the dealer buying one dozen watches, or even one single
watch, should pay exactly the same price as the dealer whc
bought ten thousand. Quantity discounts were definiteb abandoned. Naturally, this plan
met with
cordial response
from
the
countless small retailers scattered throughout the lengtl
and breadth of the country, and the
close relationship thus
established led to other logical developments in the wa]
of cooperation, such as that of display devices suited to the
needs of these dealers, a simplified accounting system increase their efficiency,
and various measures of a
t(
similai
nature.
In the meantime, a constantly increasing advertising appeal resulted in a rapidly growing public,
and
this, in turn,
made
demand from
the
possible the assuring a uni-
form quantity of output, which was
in itself the basis
necessary for maintaining uniform quality. •e2i2S-
Thus
practical
Putting Fifty Million Watches Into Service experience and scientific trade-study were formulated into
what has come
to be recognized as a definite commercial
philosophy, namely, that of uniform quality, uniform quantity, uniform demand, uniform price to the dealers
and uniform ciples in
consumer
price to the
—a statement of prin-
which, as in the works of a watch, each part must
be geared to every other to insure
operation.
eff^ective
During the time that these business principles were being formulated, the line of watches
was
also in process of
development with the goal of universality
was presently essentially a
in view.
realized that while the dollar
Thus,
it
watch was
man's timepiece, watches were also needed by
women and by
children. Accordingly, smaller models
were
developed to meet these needs. At a later date, the Ingersoll
business principles were extended into the field of
jeweled watches,
Company and
when
the
the factories of the Trenton
New
England Watch Company were
At the date of the present
acquired.
writing, there are
more than a dozen models, each of which different
Watch
is
adapted to a
need and use, but the manufacture of no model
undertaken unless there
is
is
a market for at least a thousand
watches a day.
And the
latest
development as
this
is
written
is
the time-
in-the-dark watch.
Do you
recall a soldier in the
darkness for the perilous
"foreword" waiting
in the
moment to go "over the top" with
'Time 'Telling Through the Ages his eyes fixed
upon the luminous hands and
watch strapped
named; in
it
was the "RadioUte."
time to go into the Great
This story
is
watch
to his wrist? This
figures of the
may now
be
How it came into existence
War is
a story in
itself.
the latest step in that steady progress of
democratization by which accurate timetelling, once a privilege of the few,
became the possession of the many.
A good many people wish to tell time in the darkness as well as in the light,
and
if
these people could afford to, they
bought expensive repeaters. Such watches, however, cost hundreds of
dollars, so that while telling
had come within the reach of everyone, darkness was
still
time in the light
telling
possible for very few. Therefore, the
watch could not yet be held to be of equal
humanity
in
time in the
service to all
every one of the twenty-four hours. This
equal service at any
moment was
finally
made
possible in
a somewhat extraordinary manner.
In the year 1896, Monsieur and
Madame
the world with the discovery of radium. certain substances emitted rays that solid
matter as
light passes
blows through a screen.
Curie startled
They found
that
would pass through
through glass or as the wind
They were
finally able to secure
tiny quantities of a whitish powder, salt of radium, which
gave forth an energy that acted upon everything brought near to
it
and
this energy
they calculated, would be pro-
tected uninterruptedly for three thousand years.
Up to the
Putting Fifty Million Watches Into Service present time, radium and radioactivity are subjects of
constant study and research, but radium exists in such small quantities and tively few
so enormously costly that compara-
have had a chance to experiment with
seems a
It
is
strange to think of using the most pre-
little
cious substance in the world
than diamonds
—
it.
—many
times more costly
in order to bring time-telling-in-the-dark
within the reach of every person, but this
is
exactly
what
has been done.
People had long been experimenting with paint
from phosphorous
in order to give off a
glow
made
in the dark-
ness which would be sufficient for time reading, but phos-
phorus has
its
light before
it is
dial
limitations;
it
must
first
be exposed to
taken into the darkness, and
treated with phosphorus
if
a watch-
buried in the pocket
is
it
cannot absorb enough light in the daytime to be luminous at night. It
With radium, however, the problem was
was found that
this
amazing substance would
certain other substances, causing in the
darkness by means of their
Thus
it
became
them
own
affect
to shine for years
light.
possible to develop a luminous coating
which the Ingersolls applied to the hands and their "Radiolite"
solved.
figures of
watch and, presto the problem of !
telling
time in complete darkness was mastered to the advantage of every buyer.
The
inexpensive watch revealing the hour
with equal visibility in inky darkness as in bright daylight
Time had become a
Telling Through the Ages
reality.
In passing,
interesting to note
it is
that the experiments with the watch-face led to many-
other developments, such as luminous compasses, gunsights, airplane guides,
Then came
to explain
like.
World War, and the wrist-watch which
the
had been often
and the
ridiculed as effeminate (although
why,
since
convenience in the
was
it
first
Army and on
was seen
knowing the time
hard
adopted as an obvious
the hunting-field
the most masculine spheres of activity to imagine)
it is
at once to be the
it
—two of
would be possible
most easy means of
in actual warfare. Millions of watches,,
consequently, were strapped to wrists of soldiers and sailors,
and the obvious advantages of the luminous
placed
it
in
enormous demand. Thus
it
dial
came about that
the scene described in the opening pages was typical of countless instances
upon various
fronts.
Although a matter of surprisingly few years, considered chronologically, there scale of progress,
is
a long distance, measured
by the
between the moment when a young man,
glancing casually at the clock on his bedroom wall read
wonderful possibilities in firm he founded
its face,
and the time when the
was able to take note of such achieve-
ments as these Factory
facilities
producing
an average of twenty
thousand accurate watches a day; distribution
facilities
including the cooperation of a voluntary "chain-store sys-
p yf P^; Bgytlt«s»'J^aB«iiyF^^g'a^ f
i
r-n»5a!»Tn -:-
f
—
',-^
"^ J
^*7^ -J
Ielling Time by Darkness
Many to
a soldier waited in the darkness jor the perilous
go ''over the top,'' with his eyes fixed
and figures
upon
of his Ingersoll
the
moment
luminous hands
Radio lite.
Time had become a
Telling Through the Ages
In passing,
reality.
interesting to note
it is
that the experiments with the watch-face led to many-
other developments, such as luminous compasses, gun-
and the
sights, airplane guides,
Then came
World War, and the wrist-watch which
the
had been often
like.
ridiculed as effeminate (although
to explain why, since
convenience in the
it
was
first
Army and on
was seen
knowing the time
hard
adopted as an obvious
the hunting-field
the most masculine spheres of activity to imagine)
it is
at once to be the
it
—two of
would be
possible
most easy means of
in actual warfare. Millions of
watches^
consequently, were strapped to wrists of soldiers and
sail-
and the obvious advantages of the luminous
dial
ors,
placed
it
in
enormous demand. Thus
it
came about that
the scene described in the opening pages was typical of countless instances
upon various
fronts.
Although a matter of surprisingly few years, considered chronologically, there scale of progress,
is
a long distance, measured by the
between the moment when a young man,
glancing casually at the clock on his bedroom wall read
wonderful possibilities firm he founded
in its face,
and the time when the
was able to take note of such achieve-
ments as these Factory
facilities
producing
an average of twenty
thousand accurate watches a day; distribution
facilities
including the cooperation of a voluntary "chain-store sys-
883M:aiIAQ Ya^|/![lJs.OMIJJ3T
Putting Fifty Million Watches Into Service tern" of
more than one hundred thousand independent
retailers, all
common
operating upon a
common
prices; a product that has
plan and under
come
into the
most
wide-spread use not only throughout the United States but
—^which has,
in the farthest regions of the inhabited earth
in fact, in itself served to turn
back the
tide
by which
watches formerly flowed from Europe into America, so that it
now proceeds from our
shores toward those of Europe
and other lands; a name which has become as well known
any
as all,
in
commercial and industrial
life,
and better than
the appreciable raising of the efficiency of the
human
race through universally promoting the watch-carrying
habit and putting fifty million timepieces into service. It is
altogether an Aladdin tale of modern business.
-&2173*
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN The £nd of the yourney ID you
end of a journey
ever, at the
across water, or
—perhaps
up to the top of some high
hill
look backward to the place from whence you
came, and wonder that
it
seemed so
far
away?
Now as we have completed our journey together through the history of man's struggle to gain knowledge and control
over time,
we
between Time as
Time
as
it is
it
are impressed with the great contrast
was to mankind
in the beginning,
to us to-day.
The caveman, with whom we began close to nature, taking his sense of time all else.
and
Morning was when the
light
this story, lived
from her as he took
came, and he waked
and was hungry; noon was when the sun was highest, and night was the time of lengthened shadows and the state of
We see these same things, but, for us, they have same meanings. We count the time by hours and
darkness.
not the
minutes, and
made,
we reckon
called clocks
more to us
that,
these
by machines which we have
and watches. These mean so much
when we
set all the clocks it
changed the actual time.
was
It
as
if
we had
practically as
if
we had
seemed to us
other hour to save daylight,
forward an-
— End
2^A(?
of the Journey
performed the miracle of Joshua, the sun stand the
still,
few days, we did not
And spring
made
who made
steps on the dial of Ahaz. After a
feel as if
we had made
day come
in Bible story,
or the miracle of Isaiah,
chadow go back ten
felt as if
who
we had
set the clocks;
we
the sun wait for us, and the very
earlier.
so
it
with the seasons. The caveman called
is
when
the swallows came, and
we say
autumn when the
But we judge of these things by
leaves changed their color.
the calendar;
it
that the spring "is very late this
year," or that the **leaves are beginning to turn early."
We have a proverb that one swallow does not make a summer; no, nor do concerned. It
all
is
we moderns
the swallows, so far as
summer
for us
upon a
are
certain day, no
matter what the swallows do, but for the caveman, sum-
mer was when the swallows came, whenever that might It
who
is
like that
to-day
listens for the
ass to tell
among primitive
its
eyes and judge the time
he
is
is
like
calls
him
the cat to
by the shape of
their pupils
who knows
the season of the
year from the direction of the trade-winds. So
who
cares little as to
wait for the creature he
where he
lies
to look at
the caveman in this than like ourselves. So
the South Sea Islander,
tient savage,
The Turk
crowing of a cock or the braying of an
him of the hour, or
more
peoples.
be.
is
how
is
the pa-
long he must
hunting to come near the spot
hidden.
-§2199*
T'ime Telling 'Through the Ages
How different it all is with ourselves We rise at a certain !
hour, and so
At such a
made
many minutes
time,
we must be
later
we have our
breakfast.
Our work
itself is all
at work.
of appointments one after another, or of tasks to be
finished within a certain time.
Our meals, our hours of rest,
our meetings with our friends, our recreations, and our pleasures
—
all
these, until, again, at a certain time
many
to bed, in order that so fit
for the next day, are
hours of sleep
we go
may make
us
measured by the clock and counted
out by the tick of a toothed wheel or the regular swing of 2L
\
pendulum.
We say that the savage has no sense of the value of time. We have, and it is by that fact largely that we are better off J than he. Value means measure; you cannot value a thing] unless
you can measure
it
exactly.
And
measure time, we can see what time
make
it
worth to
us,
cani
and
worth more. The savage keeps an appointment
when he happens
how
is
we
so because
long
it
to
make
one.
—
^^j
But we, because we know!
takes to reach a certain place, or
how
long aj
time we need or wish to spend with a certain man, canl
make and keep many appointments. We can travel like the] wind from place to
place, because in
measuring time we can
measure speed, and therefore we can make speed
safe
and
We can talk to a friend a thousand miles away, or! by electric waves around the world. We do these]
possible.
signal
things because our sense of time has told us that the •6
2203-
olclj
'^he
End
of the Journey
way of sending letters and messages was too slow. And so we have set to work to invent ways that should be quicker.
We
should never have had the telephone, the cable, or
the wireless, unless to measure
cared about time and been able
it.
The caveman
how much
we had
—
many years as we but those years We, who have learned
lived, perhaps, as
did he do in
.?
to measure years and to allot each day or hour to sundry tasks,
time
have made ourselves able to do far more
—many times more. We do not
of years, but
we
as if
it is
lived
live
in a life-
a greater number
many
lives in one.
We
speak of time as we speak of money, of saving and wasting and spending. Well, said, but it
is
Money, as Ben Franklin
—^Time
much time
we xan make
life
at our
the most of them.
and the primitive men and OMT more
is
something more
of our lives as so fore
Time
is
is Life.
And we think
command, and
The
there-
gulf between us
a contrast of living less or more,
comes in great measure from our having
learned to measure time.
Everyone has read the story of Aladdin and ful
lamp.
You
will
possession of a
it,
wonder-
remember that the poor boy came
lamp which quickly made him the
and most powerful person
owning
his
in the world, since,
into
richest
through
he could control the service of a mighty genie,
able to perform the most incredible tasks.
—every man—
The modern man
is
something
like
Alad-
Time din, only
he
is
Telling Through the Ages
much more
He
powerful.
has the genie of
steam to work for him when he pulls the genie of electricity ready to serve
button.
He
has
many
him
if
the Slave of the Watch which
is
he but press a
other mighty servants that modern
science has given to him, but greatest of all,
and the
lever,
all,
most useful of
lies in his
pocket
mighty Time himself. This ability to record time and therefore, to control perhaps the greatest of it
has done for him
!
all
man's triumphs. Only see what
Have you ever thought
person of no special importance ? actual power than Julius Caesar, or
in
of yourself as a
—^why, you have
far
more
was possessed by Alexander the Great,
Charlemagne
You can command that would have
it, is
forces
made any
and can accomplish
results
of these proud autocrats stare
wonder. If you do not stand out above your age, as they
did above their ages,
it is
simply because millions of other
people besides yourself also possess these powers. It
is
undoubtedly true that we are to-day a race of giants, and it is
also true that each of our
rectly
due to the
common
powers
fact that
of time. For consider that what
we
is
directly or indi-
all
can keep track
mankind can accomplish
to-day depends upon the ability of people to work together,
and that working together would cease
had no accurate means
if
people
for telling time.
For example, you make a railway journey upon a matter
I'he
End
of Importance to you.
of the Journey
The
first
examine a time-table on which the train
many
Is
due to leave.
You
Is
thing that you do
Is
to
shown the minute when
calculate to yourself
how
minutes you must allow for reaching the station,
and then look
at
your watch to
see
how
long you will
still
have for other work. If you had not watch or clock, or you were dependent merely upon the position of the sun, you
might go to the station several hours ahead of time
In
order to be "on the safe side." During the hours thus saved
you can accomplish a great deal of work.
It
as
is
though
your day had been made several hours longer.
Unseen trust
to
it
In
your pocket, your watch
absolutely,
its trust.
and you know that
Occasionally you glance at
hand reached the
You
ticks steadily.
limit of safety,
you
it
It
will
You
be faithful
when the
and,
start for the train.
reach the station three or four minutes before train-
time and find the tracks clear; no train
Is
in sight.
This however, does not cause you the least uneasiness.
You merely
take your watch from your pocket and look
expectantly up the is
due,
line.
Perhaps a minute before the train
you hear a distant
roar of wheels
upon the
reaches the proper
whistle, then the approaching
rails,
and, just as the watch-hand
moment, the
train itself whirls round
the curve and draws up to the station, exactly on time.
As you proceed upon your way, you
notice
how
other
people at other stations are also meeting their schedules
^ime and conserving his
watch
I'hrough the Ages
'J'elling
their time.
You
see the conductor glance at
as he gives the engineer the starting-signal.
realize that the
whole transportation system
enormous piece of clockwork and that
it,
You
merely an
is
in turn,
is
a part
of the vaster clockwork of modern civilization.
Turn where you
will,
there
nothing that you can do
is
and nothing that you can use which the ticking of clockwork. train, the cars in
not dependent upon
is
The locomotive which
which you
ride,
the
rails
pulls
your
over which you
pass, all of these are products of factories, but the factories
are run
upon the time-basis; there
is
no other way
in
which
they could be run.
The workmen
in these factories leave their records
when they come and when they
time-clocks
workmen were not
there at the
upon
go. If the
same time, the work could
not be done, since most of modern work depends upon the ability of people to if
one
man were
clothes that
other
work together
late, it
lose
you
see
same
task.
Even
time for many. The
you wear come from other
workmen have
ings that
might
at the
factories
where
The
build-
time-clocks and watches.
from the windows were put up on the
time-basis and were paid for according to the
movement
of the hands upon watch dials.
You buy
a newspaper,
the latest edition, and
making sure that you
it is
at once as
are getting
though you looked
into a great mirror reflecting the activities of
all
the world.
wsB?^sss!e®MSSI3mmsWi;rf«^®;;^!•^'<'^^^^*«%;!W*^!l^^
Time Pieces Vital to Industry Without the
the ability to record time, and, therefore, to control
complex weh of
human
activity
tangled.
it,
would becom.e hopelessly
^1
'Telling
irne
Through
the
Ages
and conserving their time. You see the conductor glance his
watch as he gives the engineer the
realize that the
starting-signal.
whole transportation system
enormous piece of clockwork and that
it,
a
You
merely an
is
in turn,
a part
is
of the vaster clockwork of modern civilization.
Turn where you
will,
there
nothing that you can do
is
and nothing that you can use which the ticking of clockwork. train, the cars in
is
not dependent upon
The locomotive which
which you
ride,
the
rails
pulls
your
over which you
pass, all of these are products of factories, but the factories
are run
upon the
time-basis; there
is
no other way
in
which
they could be run.
The workmen
in these factories leave their records
when they come and when they
time-clocks
workmen were not
there at the
upon
go. If the
same time, the work could
not be done, since most of modern work depends upon the ability of people to if
one
man were
clothes that
other
work together
late, it
lose
you
see
same
task. Ever,
time for many. The
you wear come from other
workmen have
ings that
might
at the
factories
where
The
build-
time-clocks and watches.
from the windows were put up on the
movem
time-basis and were paid for according to the
of the hands upon watch dials.
You buy
a newspaper,
the latest edition, and
making sure that you
it is
at once as though
into a great mirror reflecting the activities of
are get^
you
all
loci
the world,
YilTSUaMl OT JA'f^4e^3Hl4 aMiT
^\ii^\"^<^oA
'5>mo:)^
^\m-o^
^U^sh'iia
i^awM-A \o
^i-^*^
•y;,^\(^mo':>
^Ai
End
'The
but
all
them
of the Journey
of the dispatches bear a date-line, and
are also
be a part of the
lives of their
each day one
feels
themselves to
at a distance, but
himself to be a part of the great
family and can sometimes
may
reference to things that
make
with
his plans
be occurring thousands of
miles away. But the newspaper itself
work; there
felt
own immediate neighborhood
and knew only vaguely of what went on
human
of
marked with the hour.
Before the days of newspapers, people
now
many
is
a product of clock-
perhaps no institution whose workers keep
is
closer track of the passage of the minutes.
In view of claim that
all
if all
these things, does
seem too much to
the timepieces in existence were destroyed
and men were given no other means ization
it
for telling time, civil-
would swiftly drop to pieces and
man would
find
himself traveling backward to the conditions of the cave-
man? But there
we
still
is
have
the time.
We
one thing in our modern timekeeping which
in
common with
still
the
first
men who
ever kept
go by the sun and the stars and
refer all
our measure to that apparent revolution of the heavens
which we know to be
really the
motion of our world
As did those wise men of old Babylon,
so
itself.
do we even now,
spying upon the mighty master clock of the universe to correct in
all
our
little
timepieces thereby.
an observatory, with
A man
his eye to a telescope.
sits
That
alone tele-
'Time 'Telling 'Through the Ages
scope
is
of a certain kind, called a ''transit." It
is
fixed
upon
the meridian, the north-and-south line in the sky over that place.
And
a thread of spider-web across the lens marks for
him the exact field
position of the line, in the very middle of his
of view. So as he watches, he can see one star after
another come into view at one side of the glass and pass across
to the other side
it
and disappear. He
is
watching
the world go round.
A told
certain star appears, one
him
will cross the
him
instant. Beside
is
which
his calculations
have
meridian at a certain particular
an
electrical device
connected with
a clock, which marks off seconds at intervals round a re-
volving drum. field.
As
it
The
star
draws nearer to the center of his
crosses the hair-line, the observer touches a key,
and the precise instant of its crossing
is
recorded upon the
drum, to within a fraction of a second. Since the clock has
marked
its
corrected
Now,
record of the seconds there, the clock can be
by the
if
that
star.
man had
would have kept
his
been a priest in Babylon, he
knowledge as a means of power to
himself and to his equals. If he had been a dweller in a
somewhat less,
later age, he
would have kept
either because people
would not
it
to himself no
believe, or because
the claim of too deep knowledge of the secrets of nature
might put his
his life in danger.
knowledge
is
for all
who
But he
seek
•&226B*
it.
is
a modern, and so
1'he
On some tall
End
building in a distant city, a time-ball hangs
suspended at the top of
up
at
it.
of the Journey
They hold
watches
their
Then
ball will drop.
in their hands.
Upon
the
come from the observatory,
tick of noon, an impulse will
and the
and people pause to look
its pole,
who have been
those
looking
hands of their watches and pass on. At the same
will set the
news of noon
instant, the
across the land,
be flashed by telegraph
will
and by wireless to ships
Western Union system
will
at sea.
The whole
suspend business for a
little,
while the lines are connected and the observatory at
Washington
ticks off the seconds.
automatically controlled by some master
electric clocks,
clock, which, in its turn
time. So set
we
Everywhere there are
all,
as a
is
governed by the observatory
matter of course and without thinking,
our watches by the
star. Civilization
every day catches
step with the heavenly bodies.
Back of fact of
ing to
all
that
see of
life,
therefore, stands the great
measuring time, and those who are engaged
man
Perhaps the ancient peoples were not so
wrong when they permitted
ilege of the priests. It
making; daily
it
in giv-
the instruments for this purpose have a special
responsibility. far
we
is
life; it is
ern efficiency;
is
far
time-telling to be a priv-
more than a matter of money-
a fixing for humanity of the standards of a duty which it is
Therefore, the
lies
even a sacred
at the foundation of
mod-
trust.
man who makes -0227^
or
sells
unreliable timc-
Telling Through the
'J'ime
pieces
Through
false to his trust.
is
Ages
his action people are
thrown out of adjustment with the world about them, and they, in turn
many
may
others. It
who
people
hard to believe that there are some
look upon a watch as "jewelry," or that
still
some
there are
is
seriously interfere with the plans of
dealers
who
are
watch-case than in the movement
The watchman was chosen
when he
more it
interested in the
contains.
of olden times was a public officer.
for his reliability,
and people
confidence
felt
The watch-dealer
called the hours.
He
of to-day
is
in
a somewhat similar position; he has a serious duty to his
community. He
is
not chosen by the public, and yet, even
more than the watchman, he
is
a public servant since the
watches that he puts into people's pockets are their principal
means of adjustment
sense,
to the
busy
he supplies them with the basis of their
His duty
is
In a
efficiency.
that of supplying the largest practicable de-
gree of accuracy to the largest possible
The
affairs of life.
Watch
Slave of the
number of
people.
not obey the owner of an inac-
will
curate timepiece.
Time
itself is
no ending.
It
is
elemental;
it
like a great
had no beginning,
it
can have
ocean which flows round
all
of
the earth, and neither begins nor ends in any one place.
But time It
is
less
as
for
any man
though a
is
exactly according to his use of
man were
it.
to go to the shore of the bound-
ocean, with a tin cup in his hand. If he could get no
'e228€*
^
:
^he End
more than a cupful of water, any
limit in the
for carrying
it
amount
Journey
of the
would not be because of
it
available, but merely in his
away. Should he have a
pail, a barrel,
means or any
would belong to him
larger receptacle, then the water
in a
correspondingly larger amount.
Thus, time each day presents
upon the and some no
earth, but
some
receive
it
Some make
in barrels.
results,
itself
while others
fill
it
equally to everyone
in cups,
some
in pails,
of their day a thing of
with
achievement.
real
Those who achieve are they who have learned to value time,
and to make
it
serve
them
as the
mighty genie that
it is.
These are the wonders which Kipling had
in
he wrote If you can fill each unforgiving minute
With Yours
is
sixty seconds livorth of distance run.
the earth
is
and everything
that's on
more, you^ll be a man,
'0229S-
my
it,
son !
mind when
APPENDIX A How It JVorks out HAVING ism the way from De traced
the history of the clock and watch mechanVick's
all
first
clock and the clumsy old
Nuremberg Egg down to the perfect time-keeping device which we have today, it may be interesting to look a little more closely at the result of so many years and so many inventions to see what
—
its
parts are, and
v/onderful
Modem ture and easily
little
how they
are put together,
machine does
and to observe how the
work.
its
clocks and watches are nearly enough alike in their struc-
way
if we understand the one, we shall The differences between them are few
of working, so that
understand the other
also.
and easy to explain. So let us take for our example a typical watch movement, which is easily the more beautiful and interesting mechanism of the two. First of all, as we saw in the days of De Vick and Henlein, a watch, or a clock, is a machine for keeping time. So it must have three essential parts: first, the power to make it go; second, the regulator to make it keep time; and third, the hands and face to show plainly the time it keeps. Each of these three parts is itself made up of several others. The power or energy which runs the watch is put in to it by the winding which coils up the mainspring. The outer end of this spring is attached to the rim of the main wheel (1) and after the spring is wound this wheel would whirl round and let the spring run down instantly if there was nothing to stop it. The teeth on this wheel, however, are geared into the second or center pinion (as shown in illustration at "A") which makes it run the entire movement while running down slowly instead of flying round and uncoiling at once. As we will see later, the spring-power is transmitted through the train of wheels and the lever (7) to the balance wheel (8) which lets the and
slight
modem
escape wheel
(5)
turn a
little
each time
it
swings, while
it
simultane-
ously receives, by means of the lever from the escape wheel, the "impulse" or power which keeps
balance
lets
the mainspring
it
running.
down
Thus the swinging of the
gradually while drawing
its
power
How
It
Works
from it. The spring is made as thin as it can be and still have power enough to make the watch go. For a modem watch, this is about one flea-power. One horse power, which is only a small fraction of the
power of the average automobile, would be enough to drive
all
the
millions of watches in the world.
The to
center pinion into which the mainspring
its staff
to which
is
is
geared
is
attached
also fastened the large center-wheel (2) so that
the spring cannot turn this pinion without also turning the center wheel. But the center wheel
which
is
is,
itself,
attached to the third wheel
geared into the third pinion,
(3),
and
this again
the fourth pinion attached to the fourth wheel
(4).
The
is
geared into
fourth wheel
gears into the escape pinion which revolves with the escape wheel (5),
none of these wheels or pinions can turn except when the But there is a constant pressure from the spring of these wheels, which together constitute what is called the
so that
escape wheel does.
on
all
train.
The escape
if it was would revolve rapidly, letting the movement run down. But it is retarded and can only turn from one tooth to the next, each time the balance (8) turns. This action is secured by connecting the balance and the escape-wheel by means of the lever (7), one end of which forms an anchor shaped like a rocking-beam, called the pallet (6). In the pallet are two jewelled projections called the palletjewels which intercept the escape-wheel by being thrust between its teeth, letting it turn a distance of only one tooth at each swing of the balance as the pallet rocks back and forth. The other end of the lever is fork-shaped, having two prongs. On
wheel, therefore, wants to turn continually and
not restrained
it
the staff with the balance instead of a pinion as
all
the other wheels
from the lower side have, of which projects a pin or rod made of garnet. This is called the is
a plain, toothless disc called the roller,
jewel-pin or the roller-jewel.
The
roller
being fastened to the bal-
ance-staff, of course, turns just as the balance turns
jewel-pin.
And the lever is just long enough and
is
and with
it
the
so placed that every
time the balance turns, the jewel-pin fits into the slot between the prongs of the lever-fork carrying it first one way, and then, as the
Thus the lever is kept oscillating and withdrawing one pallet-jewel, releasing the escape-wheel just long enough to let it run to its next
balance comes back, the other way.
back and
forth, rocking the pallet
Appendix
(ty)(todern
A
Watch
First or tyi:CainWheel towluchmainspringis attached. 6 "Pallet, laith Toilet 1 2 Second or Qenter Wheel. y Jl^er. 8 "balance. 3 Third Wheel.
4 Fourth Wheel. 5 escape Wheel.
i
tooth before the other pallet-jewel
is
'Jev>eli.
9 Hair Spring. o %oller
thrust in to stop
it.
It is
a
beautiful thing, to watch, like the beating of a tiny heart, or the
The hairspring (9) almost seems way, the very pulse of the machine. There is only one more important point to understand. You know how the power gets as far as the escape wheel from the mainspring, and how the motion of the balance lets the escape-wheel revolve a tooth at a time, but you have still to learn how the power which keeps the balance rotating reaches it from the escape-wheel through the lever. Here is the most interesting feature of a watch movement. After the balance has been started, its momentum at each turn starts the lever when the jewel-pin strikes it, but unless the balance was constantly supplied with new power it would soon stop, and the watch would not run. It will be noticed, however, from the illustration, that the teeth of the escape-wheel are peculiar in shape and very breathing of a small quick creature.
to be alive.
And
indeed,
it is
in a
-e232s-
How diiFerent
It
Works
from those of the other wheels. The ends of the pallet-jewels
are also cut at a peculiar angle.
Now, each time just before the jewel-pin starts to shift the lever from one side to the other, the latter is in such a position that one of the pallet-jewels is thrust in so that its side is against that of one of the teeth of the escape-wheel, keeping stant the lever
commences to move
outward from the tooth
it
it
from turning. But the
begins to
draw
comer
until the corner of the jewel passes the
Then the escape-wheel
in-
this pallet-jewel
and the power that is behind it makes it turn quickly, and on account of the shape of the tooth, it gives the pallet-jewel a sharp push outward, swinging the lever, causing it at the other end to impart a quick thrust to the jewelpin, thereby accelerating the speed of the balance and renewing its of the tooth.
momentum. Thus the balance it
receivec the
it
released
power to keep
as far as the hairspring allows.
swings
is
The
it
in motion, swinging
hairspring then reverses
and
it
until the jewel-pin again starts the lever in the other direc-
from which
it
receives another "im-
pulse" and so on as long as the mainspring
is
kept wound.
tion, releasing the escape-wheel
in perfect
time ticks
five
A
watch
times to the second. That means 18,000
swings of the balance every hour, or 432,000 in a day.
And
in that
time, the rim of the balance travels about ten miles.
A
clock
watch
is
is
essentially only a larger
a clock
made
and stronger watch, just
as a
small enough and light enough to be carried
about conveniently. But the working of the two is practically the They are but different members of the same family, varying types of one time-keeping machine which is among the most ingenious same.
and valuable things that
One
man
interesting thing to
good time,
it will
has made.
know about
ever lost in the woods, your watch face upward, will
a watch
is
that
if it is
serve for a fairly accurate compass. So
may
help you out again.
keeping
you Lay it
if
are flat
and point the hour hand toward the sun. Then South
be in the direction half way between the hour hand and the figure
12, counting forward as the hands turn in the morning hours, and backward in the afternoon. This is because the hour hand moves around the dial just twice as fast as the sun moves around the sky, m.aking a full circle in twelve hours while the sun makes its half circle from horizon to horizon.
Appendix
A
Now, the sun is always to the southward of you as you are anywhere north of the equator. At noon, the sun is practically due South. At that hour, both hands of your watch are together on the figure 12 and the hour hand pointing at the sun points in that direction. At 6 a.m. the sun is nearly East, so if the hour hand, now on the figure 6 is pointed eastward toward the sun, then South would be in a line just over the figure 9. At 6 p.m., the sun being in the west and the hour hand pointed at it, South would be half-way back toward the figure 12, or just over the figure 3. For other morning or afternoon hours, the same reasoning holds true.
-&234S*
APPENDIX B "Bibliography Adjusting, Practical Course in
Company, American Clockmaking Publishing
—Theo. Gribi.
New York
—Its
Jewelers' Circular
City, 1901,
—Henry
Early History
Terry.
J.
& Son, Waterbury, Connecticut, 1870. American Watchmaker and Jeweler, The — (An encyclopedia.) H. G. Abbott. Geo. K. Hazlitt & Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1891. American Watchmaker and Jeweler J. Parish Stelle. Jesse Haney & Co., New York City, 1868. Revised Edition, 1873. Ancient and Modern Timekeepers Reprint from Harper's MagaGiles
—
—
zine, July, 1869.
Annuaire Suisse gratuit
—de
1'
Albert D. Richardson.
—
(de I'horlogerie et de la bijouterie) Supplement Annuaire du commerce Suisse. Geneva, Switzer-
land, 191 2,
Artificial Clockmaker, tions.)
Wm.
The
Derham.
—
(Fourth edition with large emendaJames, John and Paul Knapton, Lon-
don, England, 1734.
AusFUHRLicHE Geschichte der Theoretisch-Praktischen Uhrmacherkunst Seit der Altesten Art den Tag Einzutheilen Bis an das Ende des Achzehnten Jahrhunderts—Johann Heinrich Moritz Poppe, Roch und Compagnie. Leipzig, Germany, 1 80 1. Avis Sur le Privilege des Horloges et des Montres de la Nouvelle Invention ^J. de Hautefeuille, Paris, France. Clock and Watchmakers' Manual M. L, Booth. John Wiley, New York City, i860. Clock and Watchmakers' Manual, New and Complete Mary L. Booth. J. Wiley, New York City, i860. Clock and Watchmaking, Rudimentary Treatise on E. B. Denison (Lord Grimthorpe). John Weale, London, England,
—
—
—
—
1850.
Clock and Watchmaking, Treatise on and Son, London, England, 1849.
—^Thomas
Reid.
Blackie
B
Appendix
Clock and Watch Repairing, Essentials of
—John Drexler, Mil-
waukee, Wisconsin, 1914.
Clock and Watch Work pedia Britannica
—
— From the Eighth Edition of the Encyclo-
Sir
Edmund
Black, 1855.
Adam
Beckett.
and Charles
—
Clockjobber's Handybook, The Paul N. Hasluck. Crosby Lockwood and Son, London, England, 1899. Clock, Watches and Bells Sir Edmund Beckett. (Sixth edition Revised and Enlarged.) Lockwood & Company, London,
—
England, 1874.
Clockwork, Essays on the Improvement of
—Alexander
Cum-
ming, London, England, 1766.
Collection Archeologique du Prince Pierre Soltykoff. HorLOGERiE. Description et Iconographie des Instruments Horaires du XVIe Siecle, Precedee d 'un Abrege Historique DE L'HoRLOGERiE AU MoYEN Age Pierre Dubois. V. Didron,
— Curiosities of Clocks and Watches — E. Wood. R. Bentley, London, England, 1866. Detached Lever Escapement, The —Moritz Grossman. (Revised, Paris, France, 1858.
J.
Corrected,
Enlarged.)
Jewelers'
Publishing
Illinois, 1884.
Co.,
Chicago,
—
—
A Discourse on The (Pamphlet.) South Bend Watch Co., 19 12. Die Pendeluhr Horologium Oscillatorium Christian Huyghens, W. Engelman, Leipzig, Germany, 1913. 1673. (Twelfth ediEnglish Trades, Book of Sir Richard PhilHps. tion.) London, England, 1824. EssAi SuR L'Horlogerie, Relativement a L'Usage Civil, 1 TAstronomie eta la Navigation 2 Vols., Paris, France, 1763. Evolution of Automatic Machinery E. A. March. Geo. IC
Detached Lever Escapement C. T. Higginbotham.
—
—
— —
Hazlitt
&
Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1896.
Ottumwa, Ohio, —Lyon and Lubricants —^W. T. Lewis. Geo. K.
Evolution of the Time-Piece 1895.
Scott.
Friction, Lubrication and Hazlitt & Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1896.
— Emanuel
Geschichte der Uhrmacherkunst Voigt, Weimar, Germany, 1850.
•§2360*
Schreiber.
B. Fr.
Bibliography Great.Industries of United States
Hyde &
— Horace Greeley.
J.
B. Burn,
Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1871.
HisToiRE Corporative de L'Horlogerie de L'Orfevrerie etdes Industries Annexes Anthony Babel. A. Kundig, Geneva,
—
Switzerland, 1916.
HiSTOiRE DE LA
Mesure du Temps PAR
LES HoRLOGES
—Ferdinand
Berthoud, Paris, France, 1802.
—
HiSTOiRE DE L'Horlogerie Pierre Dubois. Published under management of "Moyen Ageet la Renaissance," Paris, France, 1849. History of Inventions, Discoveries and Origins Johann Beckman. Tr. from German by Wm. Johnston. Revised and Enlarged by Wm. Francis and J. W. Griffith, London, England, H. G. Bohn, 1846. History of Watches and Other Timekeepers, A ^J. F. Kendal. Crosby Lockwood and S'^n, London, England, 1892. Industrial History of the United States Albert Sidney Bolles. Henry Bill Publishing Co., Norwich, Connecticut, 1879.
—
—
—
Jewelled Bearings for Watches
—
C. T. Higginbotham (PamG. K. Hazlitt & Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1911. Journal Suisse D'Horlogerie Publie sous les auspices de la (Societe des arts de classe d'industrie et de commerce. phlet.)
Geneve.)
—
1876.
L'Art de Conduire et de Regler les Pendules Berthoud.
Paris, France.
Les Montres Sans Clef
1805.
— Ferdinand
1811.
—Adrien Philippe.
Geneva, Switzerland.
1863.
—
Jules Grossman and Herman Grossman. Keystone, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1905. Les Transformations Industrielles Dans L'Horlogerie Suisse— Henri Borle. G. Krebs. 1910. Lever Escapement, The T. J. Wilkinson. Technical Publishing Co., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1916.
Lessons in Horology
—
—
L'Horlogerie Astronomique et Civile; Ses Usages Ses Progres Son Enseignement a Paris A. H. Rodanet. Vve. C. Dunod, Paris, France, 1887. L'Industrie HorlogI;re aux Etats Unis George Blondel. Soc.
—
—
de geographic commerciale de Paris. France,1917.
Bull, mensuel.
Paris,
B
Appendix Manipulation of Steel
Watchwork
in
— John
New York
Jewelers Circular Publishing Co.,
—Ward L. Goodrich. Hazlitt Horology— Claudius Lanier. Trans, by
Modern Clock, The 1905.
Modern
Bowman.
J.
City, 1903.
&
Tripplin.
J.
E. Rigg.
(Second Edition.)
don, England, 1887.
Crosby Lockwood
&
Walker,
Co., Lon-
—
Modern Horology, Treatise on Claudius Lanier. Translation. Modern Methods in Horology— Grant Hood. Kansas City, Jeweler and Optician, Kansas City, Missouri, 1904.
Nouveau Regulateur des Horloges des Montres et des PenDULEs; Ouvrage Mis a La Portee de Tout Le Monde et Orne de Figures Ferdinand Berthoud and L. Janvier, Paris,
—
France, 1838.
Old Clock Book
&
Co.,
—Mrs.
New York
N. Hudson Moore.
City, 191
Frederick A. Stokes
1.
Old Clocks and Watches and Their Makers T. Batsford, London, England, 1899. 1914.
Old English Clocks
—
Lawrence
F. J. Britten.
England, 1907. Scottish Clockmakers
—F.
J. Britten.
B.
Revised and Enlarged,
& Jellicoe. London,
—^John Smith. W. Hay, Edinburgh, Short Talks to Watchmakers —C. T. Higginbotham. (South Bend Watch Co.) 1912. (Pamphlet.) Simple and Mechanically Perfect Watch, A—Moritz Grossman, G. K. Hazlitt & Co., Chicago, 1891. SuN-DiALS, Book of—Mrs. Alfred Gatty. Bell and Daldy, London, Old
J.
Scotland, 1903.
Illinois,
England, 1872.
SuN-DiALs AND RosES don,
New York
—
^Alice
Motse
Earle.
Macmillan Co., Lon-
City, 1902.
SuR Les Anciens Horloges et Sur Jacques de Dondis Sur-
NOMME HoROLOGius V. 16, 1838.
—Falconet
—
Camille. In Liber C. Col. D.
Time and Clocks ^A Description of Ancient and Modern Methods of Measuring Time (Sir) H. H. Cunnynghame, M.A., C.B., M.I.E.E. England, 1906.
—
Archibald Constable
•&238B-
&
Co.,
London,
Bibliography
—
(Reprinted from Its Measurement James Arthur. Popular Mechanics Magazine.) Chicago, Illinois, 1909.
Time and
—L. and A. Mathey. —Adam Thomson.
Time and Timekeepers Time and Timekeepers
(Pamphlet.)
T.
1877.
and W. Boone,
London, England, 1842.
Time and Time Tellers
—
^J.
W.
Robert Hardwicke, Lon-
Benson.
don, England, 1875.
—
Timekeeper Invented by the Late Thomas Mudge, The ByThomas Mudge his son. Printed for the author, London,
—
England, 1799.
Tower Clock and How to Make Walker, Chicago,
It
—E.
B. Person. Hazlitt and
Illinois, 1903.
Universal Clock Adjuster
— Eleazar Thomas Perdue.
Richmond,
Virginia, 1877.
—
Watch, The Henry F. Piaget. Third New York City, 1877.
Watch
edition.
A. N. Whitehome,
—
Adjusters' Manual Charles Edgar Fritts. Charles E. London, England, New York City, Toronto, Canada, 1894.
Fritts,
(Third edition revised.)
—
Watch and the Clock, The Rev. Alfred Taylor. Phillips and Hunt, New York City, 1883. Watch and Clock E^scapements Keystone. Philadelphia, Penn-
—
sylvania, 1904.
Watch and Clockmaker's Handbook, Dictionary and Guide. F. J. Britten. E. & F. N. Spon, London. Spon & Chamberlain, New York
City.
(Tenth edition), 1902.
Watch and Clockmaking London, England;
—David
Glasgow.
Cassel
&
Co., Ltd.,
Melbourne, Australia, 1897. Watch Balance and Its Jeweling, The (A lecture) C. T. Higginbotham. (South Bend Watch Co.) 1907. Paris, France;
—
—
Watch Factories of America, The Henry G. Abbott. Geo Hazlitt & Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1888. Watchmaker and Machinists' Handbook Wm. B. Learned. K. Hazlitt & Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1897. Watchmakers' and Jewelers' Handbook C. Hopkins. John
— —
Morton
&
Co., Louisville, Kentucky, 1866.
.
*&239e-
K. G. P.
Appendix
B
—Henr}'
Watchmakers' and Jewelers' Practical Handbook Abbott.
Fifth edition revised
and enlarged.
Geo. K. Hazlitt
G.
&
Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1892.
— — 1903. Watchmakers' Tables —^The
Watchmakers' Handbook Cladius Lanier. Watchmakers' Lathe ^W. L. Goodrich. Hazlitt & Walker, Chicago, Illinois,
1914.
Watchmaking in America bins,
Appleton
Watch Repairing
&
American Jeweler, Chicago,
Illinois,
—Reprint from Appleton's Journal.
Rob-
Co., 1870.
—F.
J.
Garrard.
Crosby Lockwood
&
Son, Lon-
don, England, 1903.
—A Booklet of Tables —F. M. Bookwalter, SpringWatchwork, Treatise on — H. L. Melthropp, M.A., F.S.A. E. & F. M. Spon, London, England, 1873. Worshipful Company of Clockmakers of London, The — CataBlades, East and logue OF THE Museum of— Second Blades, London, England, 1902. Workshop Notes for Jewelers and Watchmakers — Compiled by Watch Tests field,
Ohio, 19 II.
edition.
Charles Brassier.
Jewelers' Circular Publishing Co.,
New York
City, 1892.
-5240 s*
I
APPENDIX C ^American W^atch <3(Vanufacturers (CHRONOLOGY) by the number of JUDGED opment of the American watch
failures
which have marked the devel-
industry, watch manufacturing
might well be characterized as a perilous business. While it has proved profitable for a few, it also has swallowed many fortunes. There were no watch companies in America until 1850, although a few attempts were made to manufacture watches in the United States prior to that time by Luther Goddard, who established the first American watch factory at Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, in 1809 and made several hundred watches from 1809 to 1815, when he finally abandoned the business; by Henry and James F. Pitkin at East Hartford, Connecticut, from 1838 to about 1845 and by Jacob D. Custer at Norristown, Pennsylvania, from 1840 to 1845. Except for a few companies whose organization and speedy dissolution had small, if any, effect upon the industry as a whole, the following briefly outlines the history of American watch manufacturing companies from the real beginning in 1850 to the present day:
—
1850 The American Horologe Company of Roxbury, Massachusetts, name changed same year to The Warren Manufacturing Company; in 1853 name was again changed to The Boston Watch Company, the principal stockholders of which organized The Waltham Improvement Company to buy land and buildings for The Boston Watch Company at Waltham, Massachusetts; moved into the new factory at Waltham in 1854; failed in 1857 and company's business was bought in by Royal E. Robbins, watch importer of New York
organized;
City and Tracy
&
Baker, watch case manufacturers of Philadelphia;
The Waltham Improvement Company increased its capital and purchased the business and property of The Boston Watch Company and re-incorporated under the name of The American Watch
in 1858
•&24I-3*
Appendix
C
Company; in 1885 the name was changed to The American Waltham Watch Company and in 1906 the name was again changed to The Waltham Watch Company, its present name; in 1913 the Company purchased the business of the Waltham Clock Company.
1857 E. Howard & Company of Roxbury, Massachusetts, was organized by Edward Howard; in 1861 the name was changed to The Howard Clock & Watch Company; in 1863 the company practically failed and was reorganized under the name of The E. Howard Watch & Clock Company; in 1881 the Company again practically failed and was again reorganized under the name of The E. Howard Watch & Clock Company, with Edward Howard as President, as he had been in the
Howard withdrew as President and Company. From that time forward
preceding organizations; in 1882 severed his connection with the
the
Company gave
increasingly greater attention to the manufacture
it continoied to manufacture the Howard watch about 1903 when it entered into a contract with The Keystone Watch Case Company of Philadelphia, under which The E. Howard Watch & Clock Company transferred to The Keystone Company all rights to the use of the name "E. Howard" in connection with the manufacture of watches and also changed its own corporate name to The E. Howard Clock Company. Later the company failed and was operated by receivers until 1910 when a new company of the same
of clocks, although until
name was organized and purchased the property of the old concern. The Keystone Company purchased the factory of The United States Watch Company at Waltham, Massachusetts, and began the manufacture of watches under the name of The Howard Watch Company.
1859 of Nashua, New Hampshire, was orand was bought in by the American Watch
The Nashua Watch Company ganized;
it
failed in 1862
—now The Waltham Watch Company.
Company
1863 The Newark Watch Company of Newark, New Jersey, was organized; it sold out to The Cornell Watch Company of Chicago in 1870.
-&
242 %-
Watch Manufacturers
ATYierican
The United organized;
it
States
failed in
Watch Company
New
of Marion,
Jersey,
was
1872 and was operated by creditors for a short
name of The Marion Watch Company, but again machinery of the company was sold to E. F. Bowman of LanPennsylvania, who manufactured a few watches and then sold
time under the failed;
caster,
the business to
The
J.
P.
Watch Company
Stevens
of Atlanta,
Georgia.
1864 The National Watch Company was organized and name was changed to of The Elgin National Watch Company. The Tremont Watch Company of Boston was at Elgin, Illinois; in 1874 the
Aaron L. Dennison, one of the founders of the
Watch Company
as superintendent;
it
erected a factory its
present
name
organized, with
original
Waltham
ceased business in 1868 because
company was sold to an English The Anglo-American Watch Company, the name of which was later changed to The English Watch Company. The New York Watch Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, was of lack of capital; machinery of the
syndicate which organized in England
Don J. Mozart and others; it practically failed in 1866 and was reorganized under the same name; again failed in 1870 and
organized by
new company known as The New York Watch Manufacturing Company, This Company survived only a few months and the property and business were taken over by a new group in January 1877 under the name of The Hampden Watch Company, which company, in turn, was later purchased by John C. Deuber and associates in control of The Deuber Watch Case Manufacturing Company of Canton, Ohio, which was originally organized the business was taken over by a
at Cincinnati about 1888.
1867 The Mozart Watch Company
of
Ann
Arbor, Michigan, was organ-
The New York Watch Company; J. in 1871 the property and business were sold to The Rock Island Watch Company of Rock Island, Illinois. ized
by Don
Mozart
after leaving
1869 The
Illinois Springfield
Watch Company was -e
243
%-
organized; in 1875
it
C
Appendix
was reorganized under the same name; in 1879 It was again reorganized and the name was changed to The Springfield Illinois Watch Company, which was later changed to The Illinois Watch Company, under which name it now operates.
1870
Jersey; in
Watch Company of Chicago was organized and took Newark Watch Company of Newark, New 1874 it sold its business and property to The Cornell Watch
Company
of San Francisco, California.
The
Cornell
over the business of The
1871 The Rock
Island
Watch Company
of
Ann
Arbor, Michigan;
it failed
any watches and passed out of
Rock Island, Illinois, was orThe Mozart Watch Company
of
ganized and purchased the business of
the same year without producing
existence.
1872 The Washington Watch Company
of Washington, D. C.vWas or-
ganized, but failed after two years.
1873 The Rockford Watch Company of Rockford, Illinois, was organized; company failed and the business was operated by assignee until 1901 when it was sold and reorganized under the name of The Rockford Watch Company, Ltd.; it discontinued business in 1915, since which time the remaining stock has been marketed by The Illinois Watch Case Company of Elgin, Illinois.
in 1896 the
1874 The Adams & Perry Watch Manufacturing Company Pennsylvania, was organized;
it
failed in
of Lancaster,
1876 without producing any
watches; the property was purchased by a syndicate in 1877 which organized under the name of The Lancaster Pennsylvania Watch
Company; in 1878 it was reorganized under the name of The Lancaster Pennsylvania Watch Company, Limited; in 1878 it was again reorganized under the name of The Lancaster Watch Company. In 1884 control of the company passed to Abram Bitzner, who, with
American Watch Manufacturers Oppenheimer Bros. & Vieth, selling agents of New York City, began to operate the company and assumed the name of "Keystone Watch Company" as a trade mark; they failed in 1890 and in 1892 the property was purchased by The Hamilton Watch Company.
The Freeport Watch Manufacturing Company
of
Freeport,
was organized, but before producing any watches the company's factory burned and the business was discontinued in 1875. Illinois,
1874 The
Cornell
Watch Company
of San Francisco, California, was
organized and took over the business of the Cornell
Watch Company name of
of Chicago; in 1875 the company was reorganized under the
The
California
Watch Company and in 1877 the business was Watch Company of Fredonia, New York.
sold to
the Independent
1875 Fitchburg Watch
Company
of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, was
organized, but discontinued, for lack of funds, a few years later with-
out producing any watches.
1877 The Hampden Watch Company, now
of Canton, Ohio, was or-
ganized at Springfield, Massachusetts and took over the business of the
New York Watch Company;
later,
the Company's business and
property were purchased by the interests in control of the Deuber
Watch Case Manufacturing Company The Independent Watch Company
of Canton, Ohio. of Fredonia,
New
York, was
organized and purchased the business and property of the California
Watch Company of San Francisco; in 1885 the Watch Company of Peoria, Illinois.
business was sold
to the Peoria
1879 The Aubumdale Watch Company, of Aubumdale, Massachusetts, was organized and purchased the machinery of the United States Watch Company made a voluntary
of Marion,
New
Jersey.
In 1883 the company
assignment.
1880 The Waterbury Watch Company
of Waterbury, Connecticut, was
Appendix
C
name of the company was changed to the England Watch Company; in 1912 the company failed, and in 1914 the property was sold to and is now operated as one of the factories of Robt. H. Ingersoll & Bro. of New York City. The E. Ingraham Company of Bristol, Connecticut, founded by E. Ingraham in 1835 for the manufacture of clocks, was incorporated; in 1912 the company purchased the business of The Bannatyne Watch Company of Waterbury, Connecticut. The Western Watch Company of Chicago was organized but failed the same year without producing any watches, the machinery being incorporated; in 1898 the
New
sold to
The
Illinois
Watch Company.
18S2 The Columbus Watch Company was
organized at Columbus, Ohio; was the outgrowth of a private enterprise started in 1876 by D. Gruen and W. J. Savage, who imported watch movements from Switzerland and sold them in American-made cases. In 1903 the business of the company was purchased by The South Bend Watch Company of South Bend, Indiana. The J. P. Stevens Watch Company of Atlanta, Georgia, was orit
ganized and failed in 1887.
1883 The New Haven Watch Company of New Haven, Connecticut, was company moved to Chambersburg, New Jersey, then a suburb of Trenton; in the same year the name of the company was changed to The Trenton Watch Company; in 1907 the company organized; in 1886 the
and in 1908 the business and property were acquired by Robt. H. Ingersoll & Bro. of New York City. The factory at Trenton has failed
since been operated as one of the plants of the IngersoUs.
The Manhattan Watch Company
of
New York
City was organized
but did not long continue.
The Cheshire Watch Company
of Cheshire, Connecticut,
was
or-
ganized and continued in operation for about ten years.
The Aurora Watch Company of Aurora, Illinois, was incorporated but did not begin operations until 1885; failed in 1886; machinery sold in 1892 to The Hamilton Watch Company of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
-&
246 B*
American Watch Manufacturers
1884 The Seth Thomas Clock Company of Thomastown, Connecticut, founded by Seth Thomas in 1813 and incorporated in 1853, began the manufacturing of watches in 1884, but discontinued their manufacture in 1914. Seth E. Thomas, Jr., great-grandson of the founder,
now president of the company. The United States Watch Company of Waltham, Massachusetts, was organized as an outgrowth of The Waltham Watch Tool Company. Later it failed and its plant was purchased by The Keystone Watch Case Company, which operates the factory under the name of The Howard Watch Company, is
1885 .
The New York Standard Watch Company
of Jersey City,
New
was organized; in 1902 it was purchased by The Keystone Watch Case Company, which continues to operate it under the original name. The Peoria Watch Company of Peoria, Illinois, was organized and Jersey,
took over the business of The Independent Watch donia. New York, but did not long survive.
Company
of Fre-
The Wichita Watch Company of Wichita, Kansas, was organized, but continued in operation only a few years.
The Western Clock Manufacturing Company was incorporated Illinois, and general offices at La Salle, Illinois; began manufacturing watches in 1895; in 1895 the name of the company was changed to Western Clock Company; manufacturers of
with factory at Peru,
"Big Ben" alarm clock and low-priced nickel watches.
1890 D. Gruen Sons laws of
West
Prior to
&
Co., of Cincinnati, originally incorporated under
Virginia; in 1898 re-incorporated under laws of Ohio.
original
incorporation the
partnership under the also operates
name
business
under the trade name of
&
was operated
as
a
company Gruen Watch Case Co. The
of D. Gruen
Sons.
Present
Appendix
C
company manufactures its watch movements bling and casing them in the United States.
in Switzerland,
assem-
1892 The Hamilton Watch Company of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was made only movements until 1909, but since then, both
organized; cases
and movements.
1893 Robt. H. Ingersoll
&
Bro., of
New York
City,
first
introduced the
watch to the public at the World's Columbian Exposition; in 1892 the Ingersolls had contracted with the Waterbury Clock Company of Waterbury, Connecticut for the manufacture of the low-priced watch, which was first sold for 31-50 and later for 31-00; in 1908 the Ingersolls purchased the factory and business of the Trenton Watch Company of Trenton, New Jersey, and began watch manufacturing on their own account; in 1914 they purchased the plant of The New England Watch Company, formerly The Waterbury Watch Company of Waterbury, Connecticut. original Ingersoll
1894 The Webb C. Ball Company of Cleveland, Ohio, founded in 1879 and incorporated in 1891, began the manufacture of watches.
1899 The Keystone Watch Case Company of Philadelphia, PennsylIt controls The Howard Watch Company of Waltham, Massachusetts, The New York Standard Watch Company of Jersey City, New Jersey, The Crescent Watch Case Company, Inc., of Newark, New Jersey, and The Philadelphia Watch Case vania, was organized.
Company
of Riverside,
New
Jersey.
1902 The South Bend Watch Company of South Bend, Indiana, was New Jersey under the name of The American National Watch Company, but immediately thereafter changed to its present name; in 1903 it purchased the business of The Columbus Watch Comincorporated in
pany of Columbus, Ohio;
in 1913
it
was re-incorporated under Indiana
laws.
-§2489*
American Watch Manufacturers
1904 The Ansonia Clock Company
of Brooklyn,
New
York, incorpor-
ated in 1873, began the manufacture of low-priced nickel watches; principal business, however,
is
its
that of clock manufacture.
1911 The Leonard Watch Company of Boston, Massachusetts, was corporated for the purpose of selling and distributing watches.
*&249e*
in-
APPENDIX D J^eil-IQiolvn TVatch CoHections (From
—
list
compiled by Major Paul
M. Chamberlain,
of Chicago in 1915.)
Abbott George E. H. Abbott, Groton, Massachusetts. Addington S. Addington, Esq., purchaser at Bernal sale. AsHMOLEAN ^Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, England. Augsburg Maxmillian Museum, Augsburg, Germany. Baker Edwin P. Baker, referred to by Britten. Baxter James Phinney Baxter, Portland, Maine. Blois Musee de la ville, Blois, France. Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts.
— — —
— — — — Bourne —T. W. Bourne, to by British — Museum, London, England. BuLLEY— Edward H. Bulley, to by Burkhardt—M. Albert Burkhardt, Basle, Switzerland. Chamberlain— Paul M. Chamberlain, Chicago, Chesam —Lord Chesam, to by Cluny—Musee de Cluny, France. Clarke —A. E. Clarke, London, England. CocKEY— Edward C. Cockey, New York City. France. Cointre —La Famille Cointre, of Copenhagen — Horological Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark. Cook— E. E. Cook, Walton-on-Thames, England. Hermitage Gallery, Petrograd, Russia (1915). Czar—Imperial Cumberland— Duke of Cumberland, England. catalogue published 1849, to by M. Debruge — Debruge Deville Les Horlogers Birmingham, England. Dennison— Franklin Dennison Devotion —The Edward Devotion House, Brookline, Massachusetts. — R. Eden Dickson, London, England. DiTiSHEiM — Henri Ditisheim, Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. Dresden — Green Vaulted Chambers, Dresden, Germany. to Les Horlogers DuPLESSis — Family of Duplessis of Dover—Dover Museum, Dover, England. Dunwoody, mentioned by DuNWOODY— Dr. W. EsTREiCHER— Dr. Tad. Estreicher, Fribourg, Switzerland. EscHENBACH — Baroncss Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Vienna, Austria-Hungary. [by widov/ Museum. Fawkes — H. Fawkes of Farnlet Hall, England. of Wight, bequeathed Charles Fellows, of Westbourn, Fellows— Collection of Fitzwilliam— Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England. Britten.
referred
British
referred
Britten.
Illinois.
referred
Britten.
Paris,
Poitiers,
collection.
referred
in
collection,
Blesois.
in
collection,
DiCKSOisC;^
Blois, referred
in
Blesois.
Britten.
J.
to British
J.
Isle
Sir
-§2509*
E.
Well-Known Watch
Collections
—
Fleisher Collection of Moyer Fleisher, exhibited Memorial Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
in the Pennsylvania
Museum,
—
FouLC M. Foulc, Paris, France. Franck B. Bernard Franck, Paris, France. Freeman Charles Freeman, referred to by Britten. Froidevaux M. Froidevaux, Blois, France. Garnier M. Paul Gamier, Paris, France. Gelis M. Edouard Gelis, Paris, France.
— — — —
— —H. F. Geyer, mentioned by Britten. Georgi —M. Georgi, France. Glyn — George Carr Giyn, referred to by Britten. GoTHA—Museum of Gotha, Germany. Greene —T. Whitcomb Greene, referred to by Britten. Guildhall— Guildhall Museum, London, England. Hartshorne —Albert Hartshorne, referred to by Britten. Hearn — George Hearn presented by widow to Geyer
Paris,
collection,
Art,
New York
Metropolitan
of
—
Heckscher Martin Heckscher collection in Vienna, Austria-Hungary. Heinz Collection of Henry J. Heinz, exhibited in the Carnegie Museum, HoDGKiNS Collection of J. E. Hodgkins, London, England. Humphreys Miss M. Humphreys, mentioned in Britten.
—
Museum
City.
Pittsburg.
— — Jenkins — Collection of Jefferson D. Jenkins, Decatur, King— C. King, Newport, Monmouthshire, England. Kensington— South Kensington Museum, London, England. KiRNER— B. A. Kirner, Chicago, Lambert— Messrs. Lambert, referred to by Britten. Lazerus — Collection of Moses Lazerus, Philadelphia, bequeathed to Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lambiley— Compte de Lambiley, France. Laurance — E. A. Laurance, mentioned by Britten. Morgan catalogue. Lebenheim— Mentioned France. Lecointre — Family of Lecointre, England. Leicester— Leicester Museum, France. Leroux —M. E. Leroux, Chicago, Liljigren—L. O. Londesboro— Lord Londesboro, London, England. France. Louvre — Musee de Louvre, Germany. Marfels — Collection of Carl Marfels, Massey— Edwards Massey, London, England. to by Britten. Meldrum — Robert Meldrum, Metropolitan— Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. France. MiRABAUD — M. G. Mirabaud, Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia. Moore — Bloomfield Moore Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Morgan — Pierpont Morgan British Museum. 0. Morgan—Octavius Morgan Moray—Lord Moray, London, England. Illinois.
Illinois.
in
Poitiers,
Leicester,
Paris.,
Liljigren,
Illinois.
Paris,
Berlin,
referred
Paris,
collection in
J.
collection at collection in
[City.
D
Appendix
—
Moss Rev. J. J. Moss, purchaser at Bernal sale, London, England, Munich National Bavarian Museum at Munich, Germany.
1855.
—
—Collection presented by Rev. H. L. Nelthropp to the Worshipful Company Museum. Newington—Newington Free Library, Newington, England. France. Olivier — M. Parr— Edward Parr, London, England. Partridge — R. W. Partridge, London, England. to by Britten. PoNSONBY— Hon. Gerald Ponsonby, Proctor— Frederick Towne Proctor, Utica, New York. Proctor, T. R.—Thomas Redfield Proctor, Utica, New York. Bernal 1855. PuRNELL— B. Purnell, purchaser Ranken—William Ranken, London, England. Louis, Missouri. Reeves — R. F. Reeves, France. Renouard— Family of Renouard, Roberts — Evan Roberts, London, England. Robertson— Drummond Robertson, London, England. Roblot— Ch. Roblot, Paris — Passy, France. RoTHCHiLD— Baroness Alphonse de Rothchild to by Rosenheim —Max Rosenheim, Roux—Edward Roux, mentioned by the South Kensington Museum. Salting— Collection now Saussure —M. Th. de Saussurc, mentioned by France. Sauve—M. Sauve, ScHLicHTiNG— Baron von Schlichting, Petrograd, Russia, (1915). Shapland — Charles Shapland, London, England. Shaw—Morgan Shaw, London, England. SiDEBOTTOM — Collection of Mrs. H. Sidebottom, South Kensington Museum. SiVAN—M. Charles Sivan, France. Smythies —Major R. H. Raymond Smythies, London, England. SoANE — Soane Museum, London, England. Stamford— Stamford England. Stroehlin— Stroehlin to P. Morgan catalogue. SuDELL— Edward mentioned by Sutton— Rev. A. Sutton, England. Thompson— Mrs. G. F. Thompson, Ottawa, Canada. ToRPHicoN —Lord Torphicon, to by Turrettini —Turrettini to by Dr. Williamson Morgan catalogue. Vautier— M. L. Vautier, France. Vendome — Calvaire de Vendome, France. Vienna—Imperial Treasury, Vienna, Austria-Hungary. Wallace — Lord Wallace widow to the British Museum. bequeathed by Wehrle— Eugene Wehrle, Belgium. Wheeler, H. L. — Horace L. Wheeler, Boston, Massachusetts. the Wheeler— Collection of Willard H. Wheeler, Brooklyn, N. Y., exhibited Nelthropp
of Clockmakers of the City of London and exhibited at Guild Hall Olivier, Paris,
referred
sale in
at
J.
St.
Belois,
J.
collection.
Britten.
referred
Britten.
in
Britten.
Belois,
in
Paris,
Institution,
collection, referred
in J.
Britten.
Sudell, F.
referred
Britten.
collection referred
in
Belois,
his
collection,
Brussels,
in
Brooklyn Museum,
New York
City.
APPENDIX E Sncyclopedic 'Dictionary ABRASION—Wearing away
by rubbing
or friction.
Adams,
J.
C.
—A promoter instrumental
in organizing the Elgin, Illinois, Cornell,
and Peoria Watch Companies, and the Perry Manufacturing Company. He invented and patented the "Adams System" of time records in use on most of the railroads in the West. He last appeared in prominent connection with the watch and clock business as the organizer of the
Adams &
Swiss horological exhibit at the World's Columbian Exposition.
Addenda
—Tips of the teeth of a wheel —
beyond the pitch circle. Sometimes of that circular outline; sometimes ogive of a shape patterned after the pointed The addendum is also known as the "face" of the tooth.
is,
Ahaz— King of Judea, 742-727 B. C. See Dial of Ahaz. Alarm Sometimes spelled "alarum.' A mechanism attached to a clock whereby at any desired time a bell is struck rapidly by a hammer.
—
—
Aluminum-Bronze An alloy of aluminum and pure copper, usually in the proportion of 10 parts of the former and 90 of the latter. It is considerably lighter than brass and highly resistant to wear. Anaximander Greek astronomer to whom the Greeks ascribed the invention
—
of the sun-dial in the sixth century B. C.
—
Arbor The axle or axis on which a wheel of a watch or clock turns. Also applied to a spindle used by watchmakers.
—Any section of the circumference Archimedes —A famous Greek
arch.
—
Adjustment The manipulation of the balance with its spring and staff to secure the most accurate time-keeping possible. Three adjustments are usually made, viz.: for isochronism, temperature and position. Much of the difference in value and cost of watches depends on this operation.
Arc of a
circle.
philos-
opher and scientist sometimes credited with the invention of the clock. About 200 B. C. he made a machine with wheel work and a maintaining power but having no regulator it was no better as a time teller than a planetarium turned by a
—
handle. It may have furnished the suggestion for later time-keeping machines.
speaking this adjustment; but it is technically understood to mean an adjustment of the balance spring so that the time of vibration through the long and short arcs of the balance is the same.
Arnold, John Born 1736. An English watchmaker of note. He invented the
Adjustment to Positions ^The manipulation of the balance and its spring so that a watch keeps time in different positions. Good watches are usually adjusted to five positions. They are pendant up; III up; IX up; dial up; and dial down.
nent.
Adjustment
to
Strictly
Isochronism would cover all
—
Adjustment Compensation
to
—The
Temperature
or
adjustment of the
balance and spring so that the time-keeping qualities are affected as little as possible by changes in temperature. See Compensation.
—
hehcal form of the balance spring and a form of chronometer escapement much 1799. Arnold's like Earnshaw's. Died devices have been most useful and perma-
—
Assembling The putting together of the finished parts of a watch. In a threequarter plate watch this is done on the lower plate. In a full plate movement it is easier and more satisfactory to assemble on the top plate.
—
Astrolabe 1. An instrument of various forms formerly used especially in navigation to measure the altitudes of planets and stars. 2. A projection of a sphere upon any of its great circles.
*&2S3
9*
Appendix
—
Astronomical Time Means solar computed from obseiving the
time, as
passage of the sun across the meridian from noon of one day to noon of the following day. It is counted continuously up to 24 not in two 12-hour divisions.
—
—The science which
Astronomy
treats
of the motions, real and apparent, of the heavenly bodies. Upon this science, through its determination of the length of the year, is founded the science of horology or time-keeping.
—
Automata
mon on
— for Striking—Very com-
old clocks and very complicated,
such as: Indian King hunting with elephants, Adam and Eve, Christ's flagellation, and many others. See Clocks, Interesting Old.
Automatic Machinery
—The
second
great contribution of America to watchmaking after the establishment of the principle of interchangeability of parts, and making possible the effective execution of that principle.
Auxiliary
—A
device attached to a compensation balance to reduce what is known as the "middle temperature error." Some are constructed to act in high temperatures only as Molyneux's; and some in low temperatures only as
—
—
Poole's.
Balance —The
vibrating wheel in a watch or chronometer which with the
aid of the balance spring (hair-spring) regulates the rate of travel of the hands. The balance is kept in vibration by means
of the escape wheel. Balance.
See Compensation
—
Balance Arc In detached escapements, that part of the vibration of the balance in which it is connected with the train. The remainder is called the drop.
—
Balance-Clock A form of clock built before the pendulum came into use. The regulating medium was a balance on the top of the clock made with a verge escapement. See
Foliot.
Balance
Cock
—The
standard which supports the top pivot of the balance. In old watches often elaborately pierced and engraved.
Balance BALANCE COCK
Spring
America usually
"hair-spring."
— In
called the
A
long
E
slender spring that govetns the time of vibration of the balance. One end of the balance spring is fastened to a collet fitted friction-tight on the balance staff, the other to a stud attached to the balance cock or to the watch plate. The most ordinary form is the volute, or flat spiral. The other form used is an overcoil. See Brequet Spring. The principle of the isochronism of a balance spring was discovered by Hooke, and first applied to a watch by Tompion. The name hair-spring comes from the fact that the first ones are said to have been made from hog bristles.
Balance Spring Buckle or "Guard"
—A small stud with a projecting tongue attached to the index arm and bridging the curb pins so as to prevent their engaging two of the balance spring coils. Used chiefly in Swiss watches.
Balance Staff
—The
ance. The part of a be injured by a fall.
axis of the ballikely to
watch most
—A
term often inBalance Wheel correctly applied to the balance itself, but properly it is the escape wheel of the verge escapement.
Band
—Of
a
Watchcase
—The "middle"
of the case to which the dome, bottom and bezel are fastened; the last sometimes screwed, sometimes snapped.
— Banking— In lever watch the striking
Bank
Banking
pin.
a
of the outside of the lever by the impulse pin due to excessive vibration of the balance. In a cylinder or verge movement the striking of the pin in the balance against the fixed banking-pin.
Banking-Pin
—A pin for restricting the
motion of the balance in verge and cylinder watches.
—
Banking-Pins 1. In a lever watch, two pins which limit the motion of the lever. 2. In a pocket chronometer, two upright pins in the balance arm which motion of the balance spring. 3. In any watch, the curb pins which confine the balance spring are sometimes called banking-pins. limit the
—
Barlow, Edward (Booth) A clergyof the Church of England, born in
man
1636. He devoted a great deal of time to horological pursuits. He invented the rack repeating striking works for clocks, applied by Tompion in 1676. He invented
-&254B-
A Encyclopedic Dictionary also a repeating works for watches on the same plan. And he invented the cyhnder
escapement which he patented with lompion and Houghton. When he apphed for a patent on his repeating watch he was successfully contested by Quare, who was backed by the Clockmakers' Company.
He died in 1716. Bar Movement
watch movement
which bars take the place of the top plate and carry the upper pivots. Sometimes termed a "skeleton" movement. Not generally adopted because its many separate bearing parts promote inaccuracies wheru large quantities are to be produced. in
—A
circular
box which confines
the mainspring of a watch or clock.
Barrel Arbor
—^The
axis of the barrel
around which the mainspring
Barrel Hollow—A
is
French
sink
—A bent pin the barrel to which the mainspring attached. Barrel Ratchet—A wheel on the Barrel Hook
in
is
is prevented by a dog from turning backward while the mainspring is being wound and which becomes
barrel arbor which
whose
resistance
the
train is driven.
in Paris.
Bezel The ring of a watch or clock case which carries the glass or crystal in an internal groove.
—
Big Ben ^The great bell which strikes the hours on the clock at Westminster. BizzLE
—A
corruption
Blow Holes
—
with the Elgin Company. It is said that he first proposed the formation of the company at Elgin. His name became familiar as a household word throughout the country from being inscribed upon a full-plate model which attained widespread success.
—
modern Boss
clock.
—A
cylindrical
The minute hand
Bottom
—Of
—The cover Commonly
—
for a pivot being called the
Bow—^The
"bushing." ring
of
a
watch case to which the guard or chain also
gravity escapement which give impulse to the pendulum. a
known
is
as
attached;
"pendant
bow."
Box
Chronometer
—
marine chronometer.
—
Edmund Beckett.
—A
Chaldean historian who lived at the time of Alexander the Great, about 200 B. C, and was a priest of Belus at Babylon. Said to have been the inventor of the hollow sun-dial. He was the great astronomer of his age,
Berosus
Watchcase
BoucHON The hard brass tubing of which pivot holes in watch and clock plates are made; known commonly as "bushing wire." The short sections cut off
at
Denison,
a
outside the dome of the case. called the "back."
pallet
— See
prominence or carried on the
is
boss of the center wheel.
—The strike or blow of the escape wheel upon the or locking device. Beat Pins —The pins the ends of the Beckett, Sir Edmund
—
steel of a
Beat
in
See
of Bezel.
Places where the brass compensation balance are not perfectly united, when they are put together with silver or solder. Bob The metal mass forming the body of a pendulum. Boethius, Ancius Manlius SeverINUS, A. D. 480-524 A Roman philosopher and statesman to whom is sometimes attributed the invention of the clock. He did make a sun-dial and a water clock which latter may have contained a germ of the idea later developed into our
and
stud.
Bartlett, P. S. One of the early watchmakers of America. -Connected with the Waltham factory at first and later
pallets
and
watchmaker
—
coiled.
cut either into the top plate or the pillar plate of a watch to allow the barrel freedom.
the base against
eminent
writer on horological subjects. Among his books are: "Essai sur I'Horlogene," "Traite des Horloges Marines," and "Histoire de la mesure du Temps." He was a Swiss by birth, but lived most of his Hfe
—
—A
Barrel
An
Berthoud, Ferdinand, 1727-1807
—
Boxing-In Fitting the watch movement in its case; applied chiefly to the encasing of stem-winding movements. Brequet, Abraham Louis A cele-
—
mechanician and watchmaker born at Neufchatel in 1747. He made several improvements in watches, the most notable being the Brequet hairbrated
-&255S'
Swiss
Appendix spring still in use in the best watches. died in 1823.
Briquet Spring
He
—A form
of balance spring which is a volute with its outer end bent up above the plane of the body of the spring and carried in a long curve towards the center near which it is fixed. Like all other springs in which the outer coil returns towards the center, it offers opportunities of obtaining isochronism by varying the character of the curves described by the outer coil and thus altering its resistance. So-called from its inventor, Abraham Louis Brequet (q. v.). Its advantage over the flat spring is that the overcoil allows expansion and contraction in all directions, thereby avoiding a good deal of side friction on the pivots as well as insuring more nearly perfect isochronism in changes of temperature.
Bridge
—A
standard fastened to the
(^^te, in which a pivot works.
—The
Bridge Model watch movements
term given to which plates or bridges carrying the upper pivots of the train rest firmly on the lower or dial plate and are held rigid by steady pins on lower in
side of the plate; the bridge being secured direct to the dial plate by screws termed plate or bridge screws. This is the most
common construction
of present-day manufacture and is utilized in three-quarter plate or separate and combination bridges covering one or more pivots of train wheels. Its alternate is "pillar model."
—
Buck, D. A. A. A watch repairer in Worcester, Mass., who designed a model for the Waterbury watch. His first model was not successful, but in 1877 he completed one which, a little later, the Waterbury Company, with Buck as master watchmaker, started to make. He remained with the company until 1884.
—A Butting—The engaging of the
Bush perforated piece of metal let into a plate to receive the wear of pivots. tips of the teeth of two wheels acting in gear. The proper point of contact being in the line of the shoulders of the teeth, butting is remedied by setting the wheels farther
apart.
Button
—^The
milled knob used winding and setting a keyless watch.
E
CALCULAGRAPH
—
Calendar A system of dividing the year into months and days. The principal calendars known to history are: the JuHan calendar; the Gregorian calendar; the Hebrew calendar; the Mohammedan calendar; and the Republican calendar. None of them has been quite accurate in dividing up the solar year, and frequent arbitrary corrections are necessary to secure a practical approximation. See descriptive article under each title.
—
Julian Established by Julius Caesar, 46 B.C., to remedy existing defects in. the Roman calendar then in use. The Julian year was based on the assumption that the solar year is 365}i days which was 11 minutes and 14 seconds too long. The scheme adopted was to make the regular calendar year 365 days, and to add one day every fourth year. The Julian calendar is still in use by Russia and Greece, where the dates now differ from those of
—
most other countries by
13 days.
—Established
Gregorian 1582,
October
IS,
by Pope Gregory XIII,.in correction
of the obvious errors of the Julian calendar. It is the calendar now in use by nearly all civilized nations. The mean length of the Gregorian year is 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes and 12 seconds 26 seconds longer than the actual solar year. Correction is made by adding a 29th day for February every fourth year, excepting when the date of said fourth year is divisible by 100. If, however, the date is also divisible by 400, the extra day is added.
—
Republican
—The
calendar
of
the
French Revolution (1793) declared to begin at midnight on the meridian of the Paris Observatory preceding the true autumnal equinox, September 22, 1792. There were 12 months of 30 days each and 5 or 6 "extra days" (as might be necessary) at the end of the year to bring the new year nearest to the then position of the equinox. AboHshed January 1, 1806.
—
for
—
^Tradc name for a device for automatically computing and recording elapsed time in connection with factory jobs and other work where it is necessary to show the amount of labor used.
Hebrew Composed of 12 lunar months, a thirteenth month being added from time to time to secure correspondence of
*§256§'
Encyclopedic Dictionary the months with the passing seasons. The months are arbitrarily arranged to have alternately 29 days and 30 days. The length of the calendar year varies from 353 days to 385 days.
—
Mohammedan Based on a lunar year of 354 days divided into 12 lunar months which are alternately 29 and 30 days in length. During each period of 30 years a total of 11 days are added one at a time at the end of a year. The lack of co-ordination with the solar year results in a total separation of the seasonal year and the calendar year. In use in Turkey and some other Mohammedan
countries.
Calendar Clock,
—or
Watch A clock or watch which
as
—
Caliper
rotating
piece
reciprocating
direction, rate, or time.
Cannon Pinion is
form ('whence passing through
its
in
it
—
Center of Gyration That point in which the whole mass of a rotating body might be concentrated without altering
moment of inertia. Center of Oscillation
—The pinion to which
A
Center Seconds or Sweep Seconds— long seconds hand moved from the
hand.
—
Center Wheel The wheel in ordinary clocks and watches placed in the center of the frame on whose arbor the minute hand is carried. It is intermediate between the barrel and the third wheel.
—
Chamfer to
To cut away a bevel the right angle
formed by
friction-tight.
—The
—
Center Staff ^The arbor attached to the center wheel which carries the minute
attached. It is rubular name), the main arbor
Canton Berne
—
in a
and hour hands.
motion, oftener irregular in
the minute hand
—
Casb-Springs ^The springs which cause the outer bottom of a watch case to fly open when the lock spring is released.
center of a watch dial, as are the minute
either non-circular or eccentric, used to convert rotary
CAM
—
Case The metal box in which the movement of a watch is inclosed.
of
parts of a watch.
into linear
famous
ment
arrangeof a or the disposition of the
—A
—A
That point pendulum at which, if the whole mass of the pendulum were collected, the time of oscillation would be the same.
The scheme
Cam
Caron, Peter Augustus
Paris watchmaker, afterward called Beaumarchais, who made the first keyless watch of which we have any account.
its
well
train,
—
Carillon Chimes frequently used in the earlier clocks for striking the hours. Still used in some clocks.
days and hours.
watch
—A jewel having a pro-
Capped Jewel tective end-stone.
indicates
mon th s as
CALENDAR CLOCK
—
Cap The part of the case that covers the movement.
CHAMFER
two
adjacent
faces as of a jewel or stone. used to signify chan-
Swiss district which does the largest export business in silver and base metal watches in Switzerland. The cantonal government has done everything possible to promote the industry, among other things: 1. Established information offices in the principal watch-making centers. 2. Established a permanent exhibition of articles used in the industry. 3. Established schools and associations and protective territories. 4. Prepared statistics and means for nego-
the top of the pendulum suspension spring is clipped to prevent its twisting as
tiating commercial relations.
it
It is also occasionally
neling or grooving.
Chasing
—A
metals which
form
of ornament
for
made by punching
or pressing from behind to present the pattern in relief instead of by cutting away the material. is
—
Chops In a pendulum clock the blocks, usually of brass, between which
swings.
^257B»
Appendix
—
Chronograph In general^ a recording clock or watch. Specifically, a watch with a center-seconds hand which may be stopped, started or returned to zero at will by pressing a button. Used for timing races, or measuring other short spaces of time with great exactness.
—
Chronometer Any very accurate time-keeper. Usually understood to mean a time-keeper fitted with a spring detent escapement. They usually have a fusee and a cylindrical balance spring. Chronometer, Marine
with, as a rule, the cylindrical balance
The movement
mounted on
is
gimbals in an air and water-tight brass case, maintaining the dial constantly in a horizontal position.
Chronoscope
—A
clock or watch in figures presented at openings in the dial.
which the time
is
shown by
—
Church, Duane H. Credited with having contributed more to the automatic features of watch machinery than any other man. He was born in Madison County, N. Y., in 1849. At 16 he was apprenticed to a watchmaker of St. Paul, Minn., and after working at the trade for 17 years, he became in 1882 the master watchmaker for the Waltham Watch Company. Besides his invaluable contributions to automatic machinery, he improved the general design of watch movements and invented a form of pendant setting which enables stem-winding movements to be set in cases not especially adapted to them. He died in 1905.
Circular Error
—The
difference
in
time arising from the swinging of a pendu-
lum
in a circular arc instead of its true
theoretical path which is a cycloidal arc. This caused much trouble in the early clocks. Huyghens attempted to correct it {see Huyghens' Checks) but found that his device caused greater error. With the
heavier pendulum and shorter arcs of vibration this error becomes negligible. The suspension of the pendulum by a flat flexible spring instead of a cord, attributed to Dr. Hooke, served to make the path practically cycloidal.
—
Cleopatra's Needle An Egyptian whose base a dial was marked. Now in London. Another similar obelisk from Egypt is in Central Park, New York obelisk at
City.
—
Clepsammia The sand-glass, more familiary known as the hour-glass. See Hour-glass; Sand-glass.
—
Clepsydra A device the measurement of time by the flow of runfor
ning water.
— Probably the
most exact form of time-keeper, especially for use on shipboard. The driving power is a mainspring acting by a chain on a fusee, and governed by what is known as the Chronometer or Detent Escapement, spring.
E
form
is
Its simplest a vessel filled
with water which trickles or drops slowly from a small aperture into another vessel. One or the other of the vessels is graduated and the height of the w a t er in that one at any given time CLEPSYDRA indicates the hour. Sometimes a figure floating on the water points to the hours. Later, falling, or running, water was made to turn wheels or to move a drum, as in "Vailly's clock." Clepsydras were made and improved up to the 17th century. The earliest
known example ited
with
C.
The
away
—
—
one in China is credhaving existed in 4000 B.
name indicates the stealing of water and is derived from two
Greek words meaning "water" and "to steal." A common form of clepsydra in India was a copper bowl with a small hole in the bottom floating on water. When the bowl filled and sank the attendant emptied it, struck the hour upon it and floated it again on the surface of the water. Like the sun-dial, the clepsydra was invented so long ago that there is no authentic record of its origin. Its evident advantages are exactly those which the sun-dial lacked. It is quite independent of day or night or other external conditions; it is conveniently made portable; and by regulating the size of the aperture through which the water flows, it can be made to work slow or fast so as, within considerable limits, to measure accurately and legibly long or short intervals of time. The disadvantages of the clepsydra were, first, that the hole in the container tended to become worn away so as to let the water out too fast; and second, that the water ran faster from a full vessel than from one nearly empty, because of
S258s<
— Encyclopedic Dictionary the greater pressure. This latter was in classic times corrected by a clepsydra consisting of two vessels. The second and larger of these was placed below, the water running into it, out of the first. A float within this larger vessel rose regit filled, and carried a pointer which marked the time. The first vessel from which the water ran into the second, was provided with an overflow, and kept constantly full up to this level; so that the flow of water into the larger vessel remained constant. Once well established and understood in principle, the clepsydra became widely known over the ancient world, and underwent a variety of improvements and modifications in form. These latter chiefly dealt with making it more legible. Means were
ularly as
make when the water reached
devised, for instance, to
it ring a a certain height. And thus the alarm principle was very early brought into use. Later on, after the development of mechanical
bell
devices like the pulley and the toothed wheel or gear, the pointer was by these means constructed to move faster or slower than the rate at which the water rose, or to revolve upon a circular dial on which the
hours were marked. And thus we owe to the clepsydra the origin of the modern clockface as well as of the alarm. Later still, by a
more complex ingenuity, devices were arranged to strike the hours or to
move
mechanical figures, in fact, to perform all the functions of a clockwork which
was both driven and regulated by hydraulic
The single hour hand, however, remained in place of our two or three hands moving at diff"erent speeds, as in the modern clock or watch. The clockwork also remained primitive in construction compared with our own. Clepsydrae were always expensive, because accurate mechanical work was never cheapened until modern time. Rather they were made marvels of patient ingenuity and lavish ornament. Cunning oriental craftsmen spent their skill upon elaborate mechanism and costly decorapower.
tions.
The
clepsydra thus became
what other time-pieces
later
first
became
—
a triumph of the jeweler's craft a gift for kings. And the Greeks, who beautified everything that they touched, made it at once more accurate and more artistic. The clepsydra may thus fairly claim to have been the first mechanical device for measuring time, as contrasted with the sun-dial which was really an astronomical instrument; and thus the direct ancestor of the mechanical clocks of later days. Some authorities, indeed, on the strength of certain very ancient allusions to its use in China and elsewhere, claim for it an antiquity prior to the sun-dial itself. There seems, however, to be no reason for supposing that the discovery of a mechanical law like the regular flow of water antedated so obvious a discovery as the motion of a shadow upon the ground. The explanation is probably that the invention of the clepsydra did precede the scientific perfecting of the sun-dial by the inclinations of the gnomon; which may have taken place about the time of the correction of the Babylonian calendar in 747 B. C. Not long after this date we meet with frequent references to the placing of a clepsydra in the public square of some old city, or to its use in astronomical calculations. To this, of course, its property of running by night was pecuharly
adapted.
Although the chief defects of the clepsydra were minimized by the use of the two vessels and by making the aperture through which the water ran of gold or some other substance which would wear away very slowly, yet there remained
minor imperfections. The water could not be kept entirely from evaporatcertain
it had to be emptied out at intervals and the reservoir refilled; its accuracy was affected by the expansion of the parts under change of temperature, or it might even freeze. These faults were
ing;
obviated in the sand-glass or hour-glass for short intervals of time was also
which
more convenient.
The clepsydra remained in use until clocks became superior to it in accuracy. See Clocks, Interesting Old; Charlemagne; Vailly.
—
Clerkenwell A district on the north side of the city of London within the metropolitan borough of Finsbury. It is distinguished as one of the great centers of the watchmaking and jewelers' in-
&259if«
Appendix dustries in England and long established there. The Northampton Polytechnic Institute, Northampton Square, has a department devoted to instruction in all branches of the trade.
Click
—^The
E
lines one inch apart. The candle would burn one inch every twenty minutes or three inches an hour. Invention credited to King Alfred the Great.
with circular
Grandfather's
Clock,
Long-Case
pawl, or dog, is a necessary accessory of a ratchet wheel. It is a finger, one end of which fits into the teeth of the ratchet, while the other is pivoted on its tangent. The ratchet is thus prevented from turning backward. click,
—A
tall
or
clock with an
anchor escapement popular thruout the later 18th and early 19th centuries in England
America.
and
timekeeping qualities are due to the very long and heavy pendulum which
—
Clock Specifically, a time-piece not made to be carried about but to stand
Its excellent
allows a small arc of vibration. often made at present.
upon
Not
which struck the hours. The word has
clock originating and very popular in Holland during the late 17th century. Made of various
a shelf or table, hang upon a wall or as built into a tower. Formerly the term signified particularly a time-piece its origin in
the word for gloccio;
bell in
Latin,
Teutonic,
glocke;
French, cloche; and Saxon, clugga. At one time the term was used to denote timekeepers driven by weights as distinguished from those driven
by
springs.
Clock-Watch which
Clock,
woods,
Clock, Banjo clock,
so
—A
wall
from
called
its
by Simon Willard, of Massachusetts and very popular in shape, designed its
time.
Clock,
Bird-Cage
—^An old form of EngHsh clock whose manufacture has been discontinued it is the oldest form of English clock still doing ser-
—
vice. Its is
main feature
the endless
drive.
chain
These
clocks
run thirty hours. CLOCK, BIRD-CAGE
A
—
Clock, Bracket form of clock very
England during the reign of made to stand on a bracket or table and intended to be seen from all sides. These clocks had either a handle on top or one on each side. They were
popular Charles
in
II,
very beautifully finished.
Clock, Candle
—Wax or tallow candle,
usually twelve inches long and
marked
style
of
ornamented and dome on top.
Clock, Lamp
—
^A
long glass
man
lamps. Figures were painted on the tube to indicate "12" in the middle the hours section, with "11" above and "1" below the "12." The lamp was filled with oil up to the
—
hours in
the eighteenth century.
or
—A
tube upright on a metal stand similar in shape to the old Ro-
succession, as distinguished from repeaters. Popular in
CLOCK-BANJO
and
named from the hood
— A watch
strikes the
carved
Hood
hour at which it was lighted then as the oil burned away the time was indicated. This form of clock was used at night in Dutch and German rural homes until a comparatively recent date. Clock, Lantern Same as Bird-Cage Clock. n n. Clock, Largest in World ^^P^- The Colgate clock in Jersey City is claimed to be twice as large
—
—
as the next largest clock in the world. Its dial can be read for four miles and weighs six tons. Its minute hand is twenty feet long and the tip of it travels more than half a mile per day.
Clock Mysteries
—Glass Dial—A per-
fectly transparent dial
movement was
visible.
behind which no The hands were
caused to revolve by watch works and semi-circular weights in the counterpoise of the hands.
—
Clock, Oldest in America ^A clock owned by the Philadelphia Public Library over two centuries old. It was made in London and is said to have been owned by Oliver Cromwell.
*e26oB*
—
— Encyclopedic Dictionary
—
Clock, Sheep's-Head ^A clock similar to the bird-cage or lantern clock in which the dial face projects an inch or two beyond the frame.
—
Clock, Skeleton A clock whose works are covered with glass as a protection from dust, but are without a case, the works being exposed to view. There are eight skeleton clocks in the Charles Mifflin Hammond collection at the Essex Institute in Salem, Massachusetts.
—
Clock, Turret A large clock in which the dials are distinct from the movement. Because of the exposure of the hands to the wind and snow, of the clock to dust and dirt, and of the oil to freezing temperature, turret clocks to keep time must be fitted with some device to obtain a constant force on the pendulum. The first used was the remontoire but since the invention of the gravity escapement for the Westminster clock by Sir Edmund Beckett this has been used instead.
"Wag on the Wall"
Clock,
—A
North '^.•^"'^
clock
wall
typical
of the
Holland in which and pendulum hung
of
weights
below the clock case, entirely unenclosed.
Clock and Watch Makers, English, Early dates,
lists,
— For
places,
extensive
and notes,
see: Old Clocks and Watches & Their Makers, by Frederick J. Britten; Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, London, Published by E. J. Francis and Co., London, 1875; Old Clock Book, by Mrs. N. H.
D
Moore. French, Early See: Old Clocks and Watches and Their Makers, by F. J.
—
Britten.
—
Scottish, Early For extensive list with dates, places and notes, see: Old Scottish Clock Makers, by John Smith.
—
Clock Makers, American, Early For Hsts, dates, places, and notes, see: Old Clock Book, by Mrs. N. H. Moore; American Clockmaking Its Early History, by Henry Terry.
—
Clock Mysteries; Tortoise ter
—Nicholas
part
many
in WaGrollier during the first
of the eighteenth century made mysterious timekeepers. One was
a metal dish
filled
with water in which
the figure of a tortoise always keeping his nose to the correct time. floated
Ball of Venice
—
This was a sphere upper and lower parts gold, and about the middle a silver band bearing the numerals. As the band revolved a Cupid's
Its
wing pointed to the hour. Its action was simple. The cord which suspended it was a cylinder. The weight of the ball constituted the driving power. It had a verge escapement. The maker is not
wound about known.
Double Globe
—Constructed
clear glass globes, the smaller
one
of two for the
minutes above the larger hour globe. The
mechanism
for the latter was in the base, and for the minute globe, in the cap of the hour globe. Made by Henri Cunge. Clocks, Interesting Old: 'Anne Boleyn's A clock said to have been presented to Anne Boleyn by Henry VIII on their wedding morning. It is about four inches square and ten
—
inches high, of silver "richly chased, engraved, and ornamented." The weights are of lead covered with copper, gilt and engraved. On one are Henry's and Anne's initials, and true lovers' knots. On the other simpjy H. A. At the top of each weight is "Dieu et mon droit," at the bottom "The most happye." On the top of the clock is the figure of a lion holding the arms of England, the same being engraved on the sides. The clock is now silent. There is no record as to its maker. gilt
—
Canterbury This was the third of the large clocks in England. It was constructed in 1292
Charlemagne's
—In
807
the
King of
Persia sent Charlemagne a bronze water clock inlaid with gold. The dial consisted of twelve small doors representing the hours. Each door opened at the hour it represented and the correct number of balls fell out upon a brass bell. At twelve o'clock twelve horsemen appeared and shut the doors. Coblentz At Coblentz in a tower on
—
the Kaufhaus
&26lS-
is
a
brazen head which
Appendix gnashes its teeth as the hours strike. For a Coblentzer to say "How is the man in the Kaufhaus" means "How goes it with Coblentz and the good people there?"
^
de
Vick's
— In
Henry de Vick
1364
up a the tower of set
clock in the palace for Charles \'Sj!i(. W.2^.. V- It was regulated by a balance. The teeth of the crown wheel acted upon two small levers
^^
called
pallets
E —
Jefferson s An old weight clock in which the weights are carried over a pulley and made to indicate the day of the week by their position. This is in the hall-
way
at Monticello.
—
and Descriptions of See Curiosiof Clocks and Watches, E. J. Wood.
Lists ties
Old Clocks and Watches and their Makers, F. J. Britten. Old Clock Book, N. H. oore.
Vase toinette
which
projected from and formed part of an upright spindle or staff on which was fixed the balance. The clock was regulated by shifting the weights placed at each end of the balance. On the bell of this clock the signal for the massacre of St. Bartholomew's was struck.
Clocks
— The
of Marie Anmovement was
inclosed in a marble pedestal. About the beautifully tinted porcelain urn was a double band, on which were marked the num-
and which revolved every
erals
twelve hours.
A
of
—
axis.
—
Frederick II ^The Saladin of Egypt presented Frederick II of Germany with a clock in the year 1232. It resembled internally, a celestial globe, in which figures of the sun, moon, and other planets moved impelled by weights and wheels. There were also the twelve signs of the Zodiac which moved with the firmament.
Hans von Jena's
— An
Saxony at the top of which is a very ugly head. As the clock strikes a pilgrim offers an apple on a stick to the open mouth and then withdraws it. At the same time an angel opposite the pilgrim raises her eyes from her book. The legend goes that Hans von Jena, for a crime, was condemned to undergo such torture for three 'old clock in
centuries.
Scots
—
A
—
Exeter ^A clock built in Exeter Cathedral sometime in the 14th century. One erected there in 1480 has the sun a fleur-de-lis which points out the hours as it revolves around a globe representing the earth. A black and white ball represents the moon's phases by turning on its
with
Skull Watch or Clock. small clock in the form of a skull said to have
Dondi's at Pavia Built in 1344, by James Dondi, similar to Wallingford's clock.
serpent
head erect pointed to the hour. Mary, Queen
been given by Mary, Queen of
Mary
Seaton, one of her maids of is of silver gilt and is engraved with figures of Death, Time, Adam and Eve, and the Crucifixion. The lower part of the skull is pierced to emit the sound when it strikes, being cut in the form of emblems of the Crucifixion. The Works occupy the brain's position in the skull fitting into a silver bell which fills the entire hollow of the skull. The hours are struck on this bell by a small hammer on a separate train. Scots, to
honor.
The
Pope
skull
Sixius'
—Built
by Habrecht
of
Strasburg in 1589. It greatly resembles the Strasburg clock which Habrecht also built. It was in the possession of the Popes for more than two centuries and later became the property of William I, King of the Netherlands. In 1850 it was exhibited in England after which it became the property of Mr. O. Morgan. It performs all the feats of the Strasburg clock.
—In
Rouen
the
Rue de
la
Grosse Hor-
loge in Rouen a clock made by Jehan de Fealius in 1389 is built in a tower which
surmounts an arched gateway. Its dial is about six feet square. It shows the hours, days of the week, and phases of the moon.
^262^
Encyclopedic Dictionary still keeps excellent time and clock of the city.
It
is
the chief
—
St. Dunstan' s Erected in 1671 above the gateway of the old St. Dunstan's Church.
The dials,
clock had two back to back up-
held by a quaint bracket. In a little
open belfry above were the gaily painted figures of Gog and Magog which struck the quarters on bells suspended near them. In 1830 the clock was sold to the Marquis of Hertford who set it up at his home in Regent Park.
—A
Paul's
St.
clock existed
prior
to
tower of St. Paul's Cathedral which struck the hours by means of mechanical figures called Paul's Jacks. Later a fine dial was added. 1298
in the
Strasburg first
— Rebuilt
twice
after
the
one which was begun about 1352.
This
first
clock consisted of a calendar
showed the principal movable feasts It showed also the movements of the sun and moon. On the upper part was a statue of the Virgin before which at noon the figures of the three Magi bowed. At the same time a coqk automaton opened its beak, flapped its wings and crowed. 2. The second Strasburg clock was erected about 1570. This was a very elaborate mechanism, showing besides the time, a calendar for a century, the movements of the sun and moon, eclipses of the same and other things. The striking was done by an elaborate automatic arrangement. (See Old Clocks and Watches & which
Their Makers— F. J. Britten.) 3. In 1842 the clock was again thoroughly reconstructed. This, too, is a very elaborate system of motions showing the movements of sun, moon, and planets, also sidereal time, a calendar, etc. The hours and quarters are struck by automatic figures.
Ulm
—In
the eastern end of the old
Ulm
is installed an astronomwhich dates from the beginning of the 16th century. It was thoroughly re-
Rathaus
at
ical clock
paired in 1549 by the builder of the Strasburg clock Isak Habrecht. Shows in addition to the hours, the diurnal and an-
—
nual revolutions of the earth and the
movements and phases of the moon. The clock
is
an
artistic
achievement as well as
a mechanical wonder.
—A
Vally's scientific water clock. It consisted of a tin cylinder divided into several small cells and suspended by a thread fixed to its axis, in a frame on which the hour distances fixed by trial were marked. It was so made that the water passed slowly from one cell to the next and as it did so it changed the center of gravity of the cylinder and set it in motion so as to indicate the time on the frame. Made about 1690.
—
Built in 1326 in St. Wallingford's Alban's Monastery. It showed besides the hours, the apparent motion of the sun, the ebb and flow of tides, changes of moon, etc. It continued to run until the time of Henry VIII. Held by some to have been a mere planetarium.
Wells Cathedral
— Clock
built
by
Peter Lightfoot, A. D. 1340 at Glastonbury and removed to Wells Cathedral during the Reformation, after the dissolution of the Glastonbury monastery. In 1835 it was again removed to the South Kensington museum. At that time the worn-out works were replaced by a new train, but the dial and knights were retained. The dial is divided into twentyfour hours and shows the motion of the sun
On its summit are eight armed knights tilting at one another, lance at rest by a double rotary motion. and moon.
—
Westminster A clock said to have been erected at Westminster with the proceeds of a fine imposed upon one of the Chief Justices about 1288. About 1365 Edward III had a stone clock tower erected at Westminster. This tower contained a clock which struck the hours on a great bell. It also contained other bells. This tower was razed by the Roundhead mob about 1650. Later a dial with the motto "Discite justiam monite" was placed on the site. The bell "Great Tom" was given to St. Paul's about the beginning of the 18th Century. The present Westminster clock is made after plans by E. B. Denison (Sir Edmund Beckett) and made by E. J. Dent. The bell is called "Big Ben." It is claimed to be the best timekeeper of its kind in the world. It was
»&263S-
E
Appendix for use in this
vented
clock that Denison in-
his gravity
escapement.
—
Wimborne A very old clock at Wimborne in Dorsetshire, much like the Wells Cathedral clock. By some authorities believed also to have been planned by Peter Lightfoot.
—
Clock-Setters During the early history of turret clocks, for each one was employed a caretaker called the "setter." That such an official was needed indicates that they were more or less undependable.
of the balance spring. Common in old watches but not now in use.
—
Compensation Pendulum A pendulum so constructed that the distance between the point of suspension and the center of oscillation remains constant in all temperatures. See; Pendulum, Gridiron and Pendulum^ Mercurial Compensation.
—
Contrate Wheel
A
parallel to its axis
—A
Collet collar or flange on a cylindrical piece of metal. Any part of such cylinder of greater diameter than the rest. Sometimes of the same piece of metal; sometimes fitted friction tight upon it.
Compensation
—The provision made
in
a clock or watch to counteract the expansion and contraction due to variations of temperature. In the clock it is applied to the pendulum; in the watch to the balance.
Compensation Balance
—
T^
A
gears.
and
whose
axis is at right angles to the axis or the wheel into which it crown wheel.
—
IJUUUUUUUUl
—
Cock A horizontal bracket. See: Balance Cock; Escape Cock; Pendulum Cock; Potance.
wheel whose cogs are
7i
—
Corrosion The eating or wearing away of metals by slow degrees through chemical action.
Countersink end of a hole
—To
enlarge
the outer
for the reception of the
head
of a screw, bolt, etc. The term is also applied to the tool with which the countersink is formed.
—
Coventry A municipal, county, and parliamentary borough of Warwickshire, England. One of the important watchmaking centers of Great Britain.
—A
A
Crown Wheel wheel whose teeth project at fight angles to the plane of the
perature. The type in most general use was invented by
wheel of the verge escapement
balance corrected for errors caused by variations in tem-
Thomas Earnshaw
in the second half of the 18th century. The double rim of this balance is constructed of brass and steel soldered together in the form of a cut ring, the brass on the outside. When heat, elongating the balance ring, causes it to vibrate more slowly, the brass, expanding more than the steel, bends the free ends of the cut rim toward the center, thus decreasing the diameter of the balance and quickening the vibration. On the other hand, when cold, contracting the ring tends to quicken the vibration of the balance, the contraction of the brass rim draws the free end outward, making the diameter larger and the vibration slower in consequence. The compensation balance is also made with brass as the inner metal and aluminum outside.
—
Compensation Curb A laminated bar of brass and steel or aluminum and brass fixed at one end, the free end carrying the curb pins that regulate the length
wheel.
A
tration.
contrate wheel.
The is
escape
an
illus-
—
Crutch ^A light rod in a clock descending from the pallet arbor and ending in a fork which embraces the pendulum rod. It transmits the motion of the pallet to the pendulum. Ctesibus
—
^A
famous Greek mechani-
cian who lived in Alexandria about 130 B. C. Although his was not the first
clepsydra as is claimed by some it was an ingenious and interesting one. Believed to have first applied toothed wheels to clepsydrae about 140. B. C.
Curb Pins
—See Banking Pins. — watchmaker from
CusiN, Charles Autun, Burgundy,
^A
who
laid the
founda-
watch industry in Geneva in 1587. It grew very slowly at first in 1687 having only one hundred watchmakers with three hundred assistants. In 1760 there were at Geneva eight hundred watchmakers with 5,000 to
tion
for
the
Swiss
—
6,000 assistants.
-&264^
Encyclopedic Dictionary
D.— (1809-1879.) A
"middle watch," "night watch," "morn-
Pennsylvania clockmaker in 1831; he was one of the early makers of watches in America in 1840. However, his work was not important commercially, for he produced only about a dozen watches. A very
ing watch" and "forenoon watch," each of four hours, completing the day.
Custer,
Jacob
ingenious man, who,it is said, made everything from a steam engine to his own shoes. He made hundreds of the clock movements which at that period were used to revolve the lanterns in lighthouses.
Cycle
Sun
the
of
—A
of twenty-eight years, after which the days of the week again fall on the same days of the month as during the first year of the former cycle. It has no relation to the sun's course but was invented for the purpose of finding out the days of the month on which the Sundays fall during each year of the cycle. Cycles of the sun date from nine years before the Christian period
era.
—
Cycloid A curve generated by a given point in the circumference of a circle which is rolled along a straight line always in the same place. Example: The curve traced by any point in the rim of a wheel which travels along a level road.
in
a
Cylinder Escapement
straight
— See:
line
Escape-
ment, Cylinder.
Cylinder Plugs
— Plugs
—
the best timekeeper of world. Died 1905.
its
kind ia the
—
Dennison, Aaron L. Born in FreeMe., in 1812. Died Birmingham, England, January 9, 1898. At eighteen he was apprenticed to a watchmaker. Later in working at the trade, he was impressed port,
with the inaccuracies which existed in the best handmade watches. This, with a visit to the Springfield Armory, gave him his idea of machine-made watches with interchangeable parts. He interested Edward Howard in the project, and having found the needed capital they started in the business and laid the foundation of what is now the Waltham Watch Company. Dennison has been called the "father of American Watchmaking" tho there seems ground for the claim that he shares that honor with Edward Howard. ^__
—
Depthing The technical name for the proper adjusting or spacing of the gearing in a watch.
the ends of the cylinder of a cylinder escapement. Their outer extremities are formed into the pivots on which the cylinder
releases, at the
rotates.
ment of
fitted into
—
Denison, Edmund Beckett Sir EdBeckett Lord Grimthorpe. Born 1816. A lawyer by profession, and the inventor of the gravity escapement for turret clocks; also an authoritative writer on horological subjects. He designed and planned the Westminster clock said to be
mund
—The device which
Detent
halts,
and
proper instant the escapeclock or chronometer. See:
a
Escapement.
DAMASKEEN—^To by
decoratc a metal by inlaying other metals or jewels, or etching designs upon its surface. To be distinguished from snailing, with which it is often con-
founded.
—
Day The time of one complete revolution of the earth on
its
axis.
The
actual
length of this day is continually changing owing to the eccentricity of the earth's orbit and the angle of the ecliptic. The mean solar day is 24 hours. The sidereal day is 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4.099 seconds.
—The nautical day be-
Day, Nautical gins when the sun
on the meridian and eight bells are struck. The day is divided into "afternoon watch" or four hours, two "dog watches" of two hours each, then is
dE ViCK, dE WyCK, or dE WiECK, A German clockmaker who, in 1364, made the first turret clock of which reliable information and description remains. The clock was made for Charles V. De Fick's. See: Clocks, Interesting Old
—
Henry
— the face of the — Commonly watch— made of gold or or other metal or of enamel, with the required — the United States one to Dial
called
silver
figures
in
twelve upon
it
in a contrasting color. See
also. Sun-dial.
—Short wires soldered to the
Dial Feet back of the hold
it
dial of a
in place
by
watch or clock which
fitting into holes in
the
pillar plate.
—
Dial of Ahaz A sun-dial belonging King of Judea 742-727 B. C,
to Ahaz,
*&265B-
Appendix mention of which occurs twice
in
—
the
II Kings, XX: 9-11, and Scriptures Isaiah XXXVIII: 8. It is behaved that one of his Babylonian astrologers constructed it for him.
— —
Dial Plate See Lower Plate. Dial, Sun See Sun-dial. Dial Wheels The wheels constituting the motion work of a watch. Diurnal In an astronomical sense, pertaining to a period covering a mean
—
—
,
solar day. See: Solar Time.
—
Dog Screw A screw with an eccentric head used to attach a watch movement to a
dome case. Dog-Watch
daily
—A nautical term
two-hour
aboard ship. The
for
two
periods of watching first begins at 4 P. M.,
M.
the other at 6 P.
Dolmen—A sacred
instrument used for astronomical purposes at certain critical periods of the year; formed of four stones at the cardinal points and a leaning stone crossing diagonally and forming with the east stone a sacred "creep-way." The solar hours were indicated by the shadow of the leaning stone touching various prominent points or edges. One at Camp, England, is prehistoric.
Dome —^The inner case of a watch which
snaps on the band of a case.
—
Dome-Case A case in which the inner dome snaps to the band of the case. DoNDi, Giacomo Born at Padua, Italy, in 1298. In 1344 he set up at Padua case or
—
a famous clock which became a model for later clocks and which earned for him the surname, "Orologio."
—
A watch case which the inner cover or bottom is made solid with the middle. The vogue in English cases for a long time; now almost Double Bottom Case
in
obsolete.
—
Driving Wheel In a clock the wheel on the main arbor which drives the whole train.
Drop
Double-Sunk Dial
—A
dial in
which
Draw— 1. The
which holds the bank, due chiefly to the force
lever against its angle of the locking face of the pallet stone 2. The angle of the locking faces of pallets in the lever escapement.
—Of
two wheels working together, the one which imparts the power. The driven wheel is termed the follower.
—That part of the motion of the
escape wheel the pallet.
when
Drum —The main arbor
not in contact with
it is
cylinder, or barrel, on the
on which the driving cord winds, raising the weight, when the clock is being wound.
Dummy
in a clock
Watch
— (Fausse
Montre.)
About 1770 it became the fashion to wear\ two watches. But because two reaP; watches were too expensive for most peopie, the custom grew up for having one sham watch usually worn on the right '
—
"dummy
These were called watches" or "fausse montres." side.
Earnshaw, Thomas — 1749-1829. An eminent English watchmaker who invented the spring detent escapement and the compensation balance, both essentially the same as are now used in chronometers. He first soldered brass and steel together for the balance instead of riveting them.
—
East, Edward Watchmaker to Charles I and an eminent horologist. He was one of the ten original assistants named in the charter of the Clockmakers' Company and at once took a leading part
He was elected masand 1682. He was the only
in their proceedings.
ter in 1664
treasurer ever appointed by that company. He died probably about 1693. East's watches were often presented as prizes by Charles in tennis tournaments.
—
Edward VI King of England from 1546 to 1553. Said to have been the first Englishman to wear a watch.
—A clock
Electric Clock
in which the from a distant mechanism drive the escape wheel and pallets
there are two sinks; one for the hour hand, and a deeper one for the seconds hand.
Driver
E
moved
electrically
the hands.
—
Ecliptic That plane passing through the center of the sun in which lies the orbit of the earth. Also used to designate the apparent path of the sun in the heavens.
—A U. located the Elgin National Watch Company— one of the Elgin
which
city in lUinois,
S. A., in
is
largest factories in
the United States.
-§266S*
— Encyclopedic Dictionary
—
End-Shake Freedom move endways. Necessary
of
to
pivots
in a watch or force to spare and
clock because there is no a tight pivot would stop the
Enp-Stone
movement
—A
small disc of jewel / against which the end of a pivot sets. See ^--Capped Jewel. y
—In a watch the same as endEngaging Friction — Friction which End-Stop
<-stone.
results when the teeth of two wheels gearing together come into action before reaching the line of centers that is, a line drawn from center to center of the gearing wheels.
—
—
A pattern of curved metal for decoration. Introduced about 1770 by Francis Guerint of Geneva. The earliest specimens were cut very deep but shallower cutting soon beEngine-Turning
lines cut into
came the
rule.
—
A form of ornamenting metals in which the design is cut into the metal. In "Champ-leve" engraving the ground is cut away leaving the design in Engraving
relief.
—
.^
Epact The excess in time of the solar year over the period of 12 lunar months, amounting to about 11 days. The new moons will thus fall about ll days earlier in each succeeding year. In a' calendar so arranged 30 days are taken off every fourth year, as an intercalary month, the moon having revolved once in that time, and the three days remaining would be the epact. The epact thus continues to vary until at the end of nineteen years the
new moons
return as at
Epicycloid
first.
—A curve generated by any
point in the circumference of a circle as it on the outside of the circumference of a fixed circle. This curve is the best for the face of the teeth of a driving wheel. rolls
Equation Clocks
—An
obsolete form
of clock which showed true solar or sundial time instead of mean solar, or average time.
dates and the last two dates, true time is earlier than mean time; for the other two periods of the year it is later.
—
Escape Cock The bracket which supports the upper ends of the escape wheel and pallet staff arbors.
—
Escapement The device in a watch or clock which regulates the motion of the train thus distributing the power of the main-spring. It communicates the motive power to the balance or pendulum. Escapements are of three classes: recoil, dead, or dead-beat; and detached. Escapement, Anchor
—
escapement, invented by Hooke, used in most house clocks. A name also applied to one kind of Lever Escapement with an unusually wide impulse pin. The recoil escapement is one in which each tooth of the escape wheel, after it comes to rest, is moved backward by the pallets. Altho one of the easiest escapements to set out correctly the pallets are often improperly formed making an escapement which gives indifferent service. As a timekeeper the anchor escapement is inferior to the dead-beat escapement.
m
recoil
Escapement,
—A
Chronometer detached
escapement in which the escape wheel is ked on a stone carried a detent, and in which the teeth of the escape wheel impart an impulse to a pallet on the balance staff with every
m
alternate
vibration.
Used
Marine
in
Chronometers.
—
Escapement, Crown-Wheel Of the type, and the earliest known escapement; to be found in Henry de Wyck's clock. Not suitable for watches. Practically the same principle as Verge or Vertical Escapement used in watches recoil
for so
many
years.
Escapement, Cylinder or Horizontal Invented by
—
Equation of Time ^The difference between true time and mean, or averaged time. There are four days in the Gregorian year when the true time and mean time agree, and the equation of time is zero: These are December 24, April IS, June 15, and August 31. Between the first two
The
—
Thomas Tompion later improved ,into general use
in
and
1695
brought
by Graham.
It
dispensed with the then common vertical crown-wheel hence the term "horizontal" and permitted thinner
-§2679-
—
Appendix watches. This escapement is frictional, the balance being carried on a t-, jP^^-^i^ hollow cylinder whose bore is large enough to admit the '^Z teeth of the escape wheel. The d^l ' cylinder is cut away where the teeth enter and the impulse is given by the wedge shaped teeth striking against the edge of the cylinder as they enter and leave. Used at this time in the cheaper Swiss watches. I
Escapement, Dead-Beat
—Any
escapement
in
which
the pallet face is so formed that the escape wheel remains dead or motionless during the supplementary arc of the balance or swing of the pendulum. As invented by George Graham, the wheel is much the same as the wheel in the anchor escapement, the difference lying in the shape of the pallets. Each pallet has a driving face and a sliding face. It is so arranged that the impulse is given the pendulum at the midpoint of its swing thus allowing the swing to adapt itself to the impulse and keep the time constant. The pallets are faced with jewels so that there is slight friction. Used in high grade clocks such as regulators and astronomical clocks.
—
Escapement, Detached Any escapement in which the balance or pendulum is for some time during each vibration free from the pressure of the train. Detached escapements are used in chronometers, most watches and in turret clocks. They are of value in any movement where the motive power varies greatly hence in turret clocks. Examples: Chronometer, lever, and gravity escapements.
—
Escapement,
Three-Legged
Double Gravity—In-
vented in 1854 by E. B. Denison, Esq., for the great clock at the Houses of Parliament. It is the best escapement for very large clocks where the hands are exposed to the action of the wind and snow, because it admits of great driving power in the movement without its sensibly affecting the escapement as would be the case in the dead-beat type. The impulse to the pendulum is given by
E
weight of the lever arms falling through a given distance and is therefore constant. This escapement consists of two gravity impulse pallets pivoted in a line with the bending point of the pendulum. There is a locking wheel made of two thin plates of three teeth each. Between these plates are the three pins that the
the pallets. The locking is effected by blocks screwed to the front of one pallet and the back of the other. Impulse is given by the pallets in turn striking the pendulum rod. The pendulum rod serves to unlock the wheel. The arrangement is such that the lifting pins have a little free run each time. Since the pallets are always lifted the same distance they give a constant impulse to the pendulum. lift
Escapement, Duplex
—
Invented by Hook; later improved by Tyrer. Very accurate but as originally made was affected by any sudden motion, and hence of little use in watches. The escape wheel has two sets of teeth. Those farthest from the center lock the wheel by pressing on a hollow ruby cylinder fitted round the balance staff and notched so as to permit the passing of the teeth as the balance moves in a direction opposite to the wheel's motion. The second set stand up from the face of the wheel and one gives impulse to the pallet every time a tooth leaves the notch. This is not a detached escapement, but there is little friction. As improved this escapement was used in the famous Waterbury watches.
—A
Escapement, Foliot escapement actuated by a
foliot
form
of
balance.
See Foliot,
Escapement, Four-Legged Gravity Invented by E. B.
—
Denison
Edmund
Beckett). as the Double Three-Legged escapement, only it has but one escape wheel with four teeth or legs instead of two wheels with three legs each. The wheel has two sets of lifting pins one acting on each pallet. Occasionally used in regulators and other clocks with a seconds pendulum, but of doubtful, if any, advantage over the Graham (Sir
The same
in principle
—
dead-beat escapement.
-§2683-
A Encyclopedic Dictionary
—
Frictional Escapement, Any escapement in which the balance is never free from the escapement. Examples; The Cyhnder, Duplex and Verge types.
—
Escapement, Gravity An escapement which gives impulse to the pendulum by means of a weight falling through a constant distance. Of use in turret and other exposed clocks where the hands' movements are affected by wind, rain, and snow. See subtitles under these headings: Double Three-legged Gravity; Single Three-legged Gravity; Four-legged Gravity; Six-legged Gravity.
Escapement
—
Lever Invented by Thomas Mudge about 1765. the
It
preferred
capement
is
es-
for
watches because of the certainty of its performance. Possibly inferior to the chronometer escapement as a timekeeper. Its most noticeable defect is the necessity of applying oil to the pallets, the thickening of which affects the action. There are many other kinds of lever escapements. The Mudge escapement was essentially like the modern
Double Roller. The connection between the balance and the escape wheel is made by a lever to which the pallets are fastened, and into the forked end of which plays the ruby pin which is carried on a roller on the same staff as the balance. Each pallet has an impulse face and a locking face. The impulse is given by the escape wheel tooth striking the impulse face of a pallet and is communicated to the balance by the lever, raised by the pallet's movement striking the ruby pin in the roller. This ruby pin also serves to unlock the pallets by causing the lever to lift them in turn. This escapement is of the detached type. The action of the lever is kept within the desired limits by banking
pins.
Escapement, Lever
An
escapement
—Club
Tooth
—
Table Roller in the action of the lever and roller, but diflike the
in the pallet action. The ijnpulse planes are partly on the teeth and partly on the pallet. This is the standard watch escapement of today. fers
—
Escapement, Crank Lever An escapement with a small roller having a
tooth like a pinion leaf projecting from its circumference. This tooth acts in a square notch cut in the end of the lever. The lever is formed like a fork the two points of which act as safety pins against the edge of the roller to prevent the lever from getting out of action with the roller. It necessitated very careful construction and was not so good as the Double Roller or Table Roller.
— Dou-
Escapement, Lever ble Roller
—This
escapement
has two rollers on the balance staff, the large one carrying the balance staff and the small one used for a safety roller only. The best form of lever escapement but more delicate, expensive, and difficult to make than the Table Roller; hence not so much used as the latter.
Escapement, Patent Detached Lever Introduced in 1766 by Thomas
—
Mudge, but neglected even by
Mudge
for years thereafter
himself. It
was
in
some of
parts the model of the best form of lever escapement— the Double Roller. its
The
first
pallets
had no "draw" on the
locking faces which rendered the escapement peculiarly sensitive to jolt and jar. This may have suggested to Mudge the addition of the small roller, whose worth
been since unquestionably demon-
has
strated.
Escapement, Lever
—Pin-Pallet—
escapement with round pins for pallets, and the inclines on the escape teeth. Used in alarm clocks. lever
—
Escapement, Rack-Lever Invented by Abbe Hautefeuille in 1734. Afterward made and improved by Berthoud and by Peter Litherland, for
it
in
1794.
who
obtained a patent of anchor
consisted
It
shaped pallets on whose axis was fixed a rack, or segment of a toothed wheel which geared into a pinion on the axis of the balance. The balance was thus never free from the train and good timekeeping
was made impossible. It is not now in use. nr-"^~~^ Escapement, Lever-Re^-^>=5^ 1 silient Invented by F. J. _^Cole about 1870. A form of '"lever escapement designed to
—
r)SA
obviate the evils of overbanking. The points of the escape-wheel teeth are bent toward the locking faces of the pallets, the bend in the tooth acts as the banking and
-&269B'
Appendix
E
was abandoned
Escapement,
Single
because expensive to make and the danger of overbanking is not considerable.
Three-Legged
Grav-
no pins are required.
It
ity
—
lets
Escapement, Lever Table Roller Excellent and very simple and the most common form today. It differs from the
—
crank lever only in the action of the roller. pin instead of projecting beyond the edge of the roller is set within its circumference and raised above its
The impulse
plane.
Escapement,
Two
Pin
Lever
—A form
—
of Lever Escapement in which the unlocking and impulse actions were formerly divided between two small gold pins in the roller and one in the lever. Later the two roller pins were discarded, and one broad jewel pin substituted.
— Pin Wheel—
Escapement Invented
by
Lepaute
about
1750. Similar in action to the
A good and simple escapement for large clocks. ^7 The impulse is given the pendu\yy lum through the pallets by J'' 'i-!-!-^ pins which stand out from the dead-beat.
of the escape wheel. Lepaute made these pins semi-circular and had his pallets of equal length acting on opposite sides of the wheel. Sir E. Beckett cut away part of the front of the pins which allows the pallets to act as in the diagram. The resting faces are arcs of a circle. It has been superseded by the gravity escapement for large clocks and is inferior to the dead-beat for small. face
—
Escapement, Recoil Any escapement in which the pallets actually force the escape wheel to turn backwards a trifle with each beat of the balance. Cheap and easy to make but inferior as timekeepers to the detached or dead-beat types.
Escapement, Right-Angled
—A lever
escapement so set that lines drawn between the centers of the balance, pallets, and escape wheel would form a right angle. See Escapement, straight-line.
—
Escapement, Single-Beat An escapement such as the Duplex, or Chronometer, whose escape wheel moves only at
alternate
pendulum.
beats
of the
balance
or
—Consists of two
pal-
and one three-legged
locking wheel. Instead of the three pins for lifting as in the Double
Three - Legged Gravity escapement there is a triangular steel block which acts against large friction rollers, pivoted one on each pallet.
Escapement,
Legged Gravity
Six
-
—A mod-
ification of the three-legged
gravity escapement. The locking wheel has six teeth. One of the pallet arms is neutral and gives no impulse, hence impulse is given only at each alternate vibration. A much Hghter driving weight than for the Double Three-legged Gravity escapernent will suffice for this, since the rotations of the escape wheel required are only half as many.
—
Escapement, Straight-Line An escapement of the lever type in which the escape wheel, pallets and balance are all in a straight line; an arrangement favored by the Swiss.
Escapement,
Verge
-Also called "Crownwheel," or Vertical es-
capement. The earliest form of escapement on record. The inventor is not known, but the escapement was used on de Vick's clock. (1364.) It was used almost exclusively up to 1750 in spite of its manifest inaccuracy. The verge a frictional recoil escapement. It con-
is
sists of a crown-wheel, with eleven, thirteen, or fifteen teeth, shaped like those of a rip saw, and with its axis set at right angles to the pallets axis, or verge, which carries the balance. The verge is a slender cylinder as small as compatible with the required strength, from which project the pallets, two flat steel "flags" at an angle to each other varying from 90° to 115°. The wheel runs in a watch in a plane at right angles to the face. Any variation in the motive power causes a variation in the arc of the balance swing. Therefore, since the time of oscillation depends on
-@270B-
—
Encyclopedic Dictionary the arc of the swing, the time-keeping qualities were directly affected. This gave rise to the invention of the stack-freed and fusee, both contrivances to equalize the power of the mainspring. In spite of the many defects the verge escapement was one of the great inventions because the first escapement, and was used for centuries before superior kinds were devised. It necessitated thick and bulky watches.
Escapement, Virgule
—
/p^ An early form of escapement )o>=Jp invented about 1660 by Abbe Hautefeuille. Its action can be readily understood from the diagram. Escape Pinion
—The
pinion
on the
—
Flank
The flank of a wheel or pinion the part lying between the pitch circle and the center. is
— Fly—
Flirt Any device for causing sudden movement of a mechanism.
WnEEL^The
upon
a rotating shaft. Used in the striking part of clocks. By some believed to have been used on the earliest clocks before the verge escapement to check a too rapid descent of the weight.
Fly Pinion the
carries
last
—The pinion
fly:
in a clock that a part of the striking
Fob
wheel of a (
-,
i,!
i|j
—
watch a the waistband of trousers. Commonly applied to the end of a chain or ribbon which is attached to
early examples was attached to a watch made for Oliver
Cromwell Midwall
On
his
home he was very emphatic in his endorsement of the American method of manufacture as compared to the Swiss.
—Made
president of the Co., in 1886. His long experience in watch case and movement making and his commercial training made his judgment on matters relating to
—
balance weights as
with used
one of the
earliest
clock
regulators.
De
Vick's clock
is
one example of it.
F o L I o T B A LaNC E See Foliot.
Follower
—Of two wheels
geared together, the one to which the driver imparts motion is called the follower.
—
The fork shaped end of the lever which plays the roller jewel.
Fork into
return
E. C.
by John
FOLIOT A armed
that Facio was not first in this use of jewels, in an old watch of Ignatius Huggeford's with an amethyst mounted on the cock of the balance wheel. Facio's petition was denied. It was later discovered that Huggeford's jewel had nothing to do with the mechanism of the watch.
Philadelphia.
1625
straight
he was opposed by the Clockmakers' Company, who produced in evidence proof
—
in
in Fleet Street.
1705, obtained a patent therffor in London. In December of the same year when he petitioned for a more extended patent
Favre, Perret E. In 1876 the chief commissioner in the Swiss Department and a member at that time of the International Jury on Watches at the Centen-
in
|(2)|)/|the watch and hangs free 4sss/ from the pocket. One of the
2. Of the tooth of a wheel, that portion beyond the pitch line.
Facio, Nicolas A Geneva watchmaker who invented the art of piercing jewels for use in watches, and in May,
— Properly
pocket
\^
Face — 1. Of a watch or clock is the dial.
Fitch
—
—
those of a circular saw.
nial Exhibition at
the
^A speed regulating device or governor consisting of a fan or two vanes
train: it gives impulse to the balance, indirectly. Also called scape wheel. Easily identified by teeth resembling
>
in-
ventor of the screw bezel case.
mechanism.
escape-wheel arbor.
Escape
watchmaking of value. He was the
Fourth Wheel
—The wheel
in a
watch
that drives the escape pinion and to whose arbor the seconds hand is attached.
—
Waltham Watch
a
Frame The plates or plate and bars of watch or clock which support the pivots
of the train.
Free Spring
-e27iB*
—A
balance spring not
E
Appendix by curb pins. Used in chronomand other fine time pieces where the spring is an overcoil. controlled
Galileo, Galilei
—A clock—maker of
Fromanteel, Ahasuerus maker of Dutch extraction steeple
clocks
in
East Smithfield. The
family of Fromanteels were celebrated as having been the first to introduce the
pendulum
clocks into England. Their claim has since been contested in favor of Harris and Hooke.
Full Plate
—A model —
in
which the top
the balance beplate is circular in form 18 size ing above this plate. Used now watches for railroad and other hard usage. They are made only in limited quantities.
m
—
Fusee Invented by Jacob Zech of Prague about 1525. Consists of specially grooved a cone-shaped pulley in..^, terposed between the mainspring barrel and the great or driving wheel of a watch or clock. The connection between the barrel and fusee was first
^
made by
a cord or catgut, later
by
a chain.
In winding the spring the cord is drawn from the barrel on to the fusee the first coil on the larger end. Thus the main-
—
spring first
when
fully
wound
uncoils the cord
from the smaller end of the fusee; and
it runs down gets the benefit of increased leverage by reason of the greater diameter of the lower part of the fusee. An excellent adjustment of the pressure on the center pinion can be made in this way. The fusee has been abandoned in watches to allow of thinness, but is still
as
used in chronometers and clocks.
—
Fusee Cap ^A thin steel plate with a projecting nose on the smaller end of the fusee: a part of the mechanism to stop the fusee when the last coil of the chain is wound thereon. Fusee Chain
—A
very delicate
steel
chain connecting the barrel with the fusee of a watch, chronometer or clock. It replaced the catgut originally used and was first introduced by Gruet of Geneva about 1664.
—The sink cut
Fusee Sink plate of a fusee.
—Commonly
famous Italian
called
scientist
1564 who discovered, among many the isochronism of the pendulum vibrating through long or short arcs. The story goes that he noticed that a swinging chandelier in a certain cathedral took the same length of time to each vibration whether in long or short arcs timing them by his pulse. He seems never to have applied this principle to clocks, although he issued an essay on the
born
in
other
things,
—
subject in 1639.
—
Galileo, Vincentis Son of the great astronomer, born about 1600. He aided his father in experiments and gave special attention to the application of the pendulum to clocks. He is claimed by some to have been the first to so apply the pendulum, in 1649, but this is disputed in favor of Richard Harris of London.
Geneva
—
city
^A
Switzerland
in
which watchmaking was
in
established is the center of the industry, and the city is honeywith garret-workers so-called first
in that country. It
"hand" combed making
—
parts.
Gerbert (Pope Sylvester Auvergne,
ii)
—Born
920. In 990 Gerbert made some sort of a clock which attained wide fame. Some authorities claim that it was a clock moved by Belliac,
in
in
weights and wheels and some even claim for it a verge escapement. On the other hand, other authorities state positively that that story is a myth and that Gerbert's horologe was a sun-dial. It seems pretty well accepted that there was no escapement used, however, until more than two centuries after Gerbert's time.
—^An
German Silver
—
alloy of copper,
and zinc copper predominating. Really a white brass. nickel,
—A
GiMBAL contrivance resembling a universal joint permitting a suspended object to tip freely in all directions. Marine chronometers are supported in their cases or boxes by gimbals. It was first applied to chronometers by Huyghens.
Gnomon
—
^A
simple
and
probably the most ancient instrument for marking time consisting simply of a staff or
in the top
watch to give space
A
"Galileo."
eters
for the
'pillow in a
-§2725-
fixed
perpendicularly
—time being reckoned by
sunny place
Encyclopedic Dictionary changing length of the shadow or angular movement. In more recent
the-
by
its
times the title "gnomon" was applied to the style of the sun-dial.
Gnomonics
—The
art of constructing sun-dials taught especially
and setting in the seventeenth century.
GoDDARD, Luther
— Born
at
Shrews-
—
bury, Mass., February 28, 1762 Died 1842. He was the first American to manufacture watches. He began in 1809 but unable to compete as to price with cheap foreign watches, retired after making about five hundred.
—
Going-Barrel Swiss early The abandoned the
fu-
watches and teeth around
see in
cut the outside of the main-spring barrel so as to drive the
an arrangement It
made
is
possible
train direct. Such called a going-barrel. a thinner and much
simpler watch. American makers quickly adopted this device, but the EngHsh long clung to the fusee. It is sometimes claimed that the French were the first to adopt the
time. He invented the mercurial compensation pendulum, the dead-beat escapement, and perfected the cyHnder escapement of Tompion and left it in practically its present form. He made ornamentation distinctly subsidiary to use. He was master of the Clockmakers' Company in 1722-23. He was buried with
watchmaker of his
Tompion in Westminster Abbey. Great Tom ^The great bell which
—
struck the hours on the first clock at Westminster. It was afterwards transferred to St. Paul's.
—
Great Wheel In a fusee watch the toothed wheel which transmits the power from the fusee to the center pinion. In a going-barrel watch it is represented by the toothed portion of the barrel drum.
— (England)
Greenwich Observatory
Royal observatory founded 1675 to promote astronomy and navigation. There is at this observatory a standard motor clock which is the center of a system of electrically controlled clocks scattered
Going Fusee
—A fusee with
maintaining power attachment, so that the watch does not stop while being wound. Invented by Harrison.
Golden Number
—Meton,
an Athen-
ian astronomer, discovered about 432 B. C. that every nineteen years the new and full moons returned on the same days of the month. This period is the cycle of the moon, called the Golden Number because the Greeks, to honor it, had it written in letters of gold. Anno Domini, the year of our Lord, fell on the second year of a lunar cycle. Hence, to find the Golden Number for any year, add 1 to the date (A. D.) and divide by 19. The remainder is the Golden Number for the year.
—
Gold-Filled A sheet of brass sandwiched between two thin plates of gold and all brazed together. Gold-filled watch cases were introduced in America. They give very good wear.
—
F. R. S. An Engwatchmaker and astronomer, born in
Graham, George,
over the
Kingdom, and which thus keeps official time as our Naval Observatory clock does for the
going-barrel.
lish
in 1675. Died 1751. He was an apprentice of Tompion and succeeded to Tompion's reputation as the best
Cumberland
United States.
—
Grimthorpe See Denison, E. B. Gruen, Dietrich ^A Swiss watchmaker who with his son Fred first succeeded in making a very thin watch. The Gruen watch factory at Cincinnati, Ohio,
—
unique in this country. The buildings and surroundings resemble those of Switzerland, and the method of manufacture embodies more handwork than is common in the American system.
is
Gruet
—
^A
Swiss
who introduced
chains
fusee instead of catgut cord, in They are still used for marine 1664. chronometers, some clocks, and the few fusee watches now made. for the
—A pin
Guard Pin
in a lever escape-
ment which prevents the pallets leaving the escape wheel when the hands of a watch are turned back. Also known as the "safety pin."
—An
Guild or Gild
association
of
people occupied in kindred pursuits for mutual protection and aid. Watch and clockmakers belonged to the Blacksmiths' Guild in England until 1631,
*e-273B-
Appendix when the Clockmakers' Company was formed. In France the Clockmakers' Guild was powerful in 1544.
E
compensation balance, afterward worked out by other watchmakers. Died 1776.
—
Hautefeuille, John (Abbe.) Born Died 1724. He disputed successfully Huyghens' claim to a prior invention 1647.
— Said
by some to be a American term for the balance spring of a watch. But Wood
Hair-Spring distinctly
(English) uses it in his "Curiosities of Clocks and Watches," 1866. However, it is not in common use outside of America. It is thought to have originated from the fact that in early times attempts were made to utilize hog-bristle for the balance spring.
Half Plate
watch in which the top plate covers but half of the pillar ried in a
^A
wheel pinion being car-
cock to allow the use of a larger
balance. Now obsolete or nearly so. placed by the bridge-model.
—A
Hall Mark
Re-
stamp placed upon by government
gold and silver articles officials after
assayed.
the metal therein has been
—^The
Hands moved by
—A going-barrel with Richard —An English clockwhom claimed that he pendulum clock— up at
Hanging Barrel
arbor supported only at the upper end.
Harris,
maker
made
for
the
it
is
set
first
in 1641.
Most
authorities agree, however, that this belongs to Huyghens.
honor
St. Paul's,
— The heart-
the centersseconds wheel of a chronograph, which causes the hand to fly back to zero.
—
Some watch
(See Henlein, Peter.) historians credit invention of first to Peter Hele. There is no doubt,
however, that Hele and Henlein were one and the same. Preponderance of authority favors "Henlein" as the correct spelling of the name.
—Following the course of a Heliotropion— See "Polos." Hemicycle— Form of sun-dial which Helical
helix or spiral.
in
metal
pointers which, the train, indicate the time by pointing to the figures on the dial. At present there are always two, the hour and minute hands and frequently a seconds hand also. Clocks at first were made with only the hour hand; the minute hand was introduced when the use of the pendulum made timekeeping sufficiently accurate for the indication of such small divisions.
its
Heart- Piece cam on
shaped
HelEj Peter
—
plate, the fourth
of the steel balance spring. He is also credited with the invention about 1722 of the rack-lever escapement.
Covent Garden,
—
Harrison, John ^An English mechanician born at Faulby in Yorkshire in 1693. He made many improvements in the mechanism of clocks, the greatest of which was the compound pendulum. He won in 1761 a reward offered by Parliament in 1714 for an instrument that would determine longitude within thirty marine miles Harrison's chronometer gave it within eighteen miles. He invented the going fusee, the gridiron compensation pendulum and suggested the idea for the
shadow of a vertical pointer or "gnomon" is cast upon and moves around
the
the inner surface of a half globe or sphere. Supposed to have been invented about 350 B. C. (See Sun-Dial). Vitruvius, the Roman Engineer, ascribes invention to the Babylonian priest and astonomer, Berosus.
Henlein,
Peter
—Sometimes
called
Peter Hele. A clockmaker of Nuremberg, who is believed to have made the first portable (pocket) clock or zvaich sometime early in the sixteenth century. Born 1480. Died about 1540. His clock was round, driven by a spring and had small wheels of steel. It was much larger than present day watches.
—
Hollow Pinion A pinion bored through the center. The center pinion in many watches is hollow. '
"Hon-Woo-Et-Low" or Copper Jars
—
A form of clepsydra China, said to be between 3000 and 4000 years old. It consists of four copper jars arranged on steps. Each jar drops water into the one below it until Dropping Water at Canton,
the last one, in which a bamboo float, indicates the time in a rude way.
—
HooKE, Robert, M. D. An English physician-philosopher born on the Isle of Wight in 1635. His accomplishments
*§274S-
Encyclopedic Dictionary He claimed to have discovered the isochronism of the balance spring and its application to watches, though this was also claimed by Huyghens. He invented a pendulum timekeeper for finding the longitude at sea; devised the first wheel-cutting engine about 1670; and he invented the anchor escapement for clocks. His studies and inventions covered a wide field. He died in 1702.
were numerous.
—
HojROLOGE, (Orologe), (Horologium) general term applied indiscriminately
^A
old writings
in
to
any mechanism
for
measuring time.
HOROLOGICAL
An
INSTITUTE
BrITISH
association of watchmakers founded in
1858 for the purpose of advancing the horological arts.
Horological Periodicals, American
—American Jeweler, (Monthly), Chicago, Goldsmith and Silversmith, (Monthly), New Haven, Conn.; Jeweler's Circular, (Weekly), New York,; Keystone (Monthly), Philadelphia, Pa.; Manufacturing Jeweler, Providence, R. I.; MidContinent Jeweler, Kansas City, Mo.; National Jeweler, (Monthly), Chicago, Northwestern Jeweler, St. Paul, 111.; Minn.; Pacific Goldsmith, (Monthly), 111.;
San Francisco, Cal.; Trader and Canadian Jeweler, Toronto, Canada.
Horologium
—
— See Horologe.
HoROLOGY^ -The science of time-measurement or of the construction of time pieces.
—
Hour Now consisting of sixty minutes or one twenty-fourth of an equinoctial day. Formerly one twelfth of the time between sunrise and sunset, and one twelfth of the time between sunset and sunrise; hence of different lengths for day and night in the different seasons. This required much adjustment of clocks; and automatic devices for such adjustment were in great demand. standard hour of uniform length for all times and seasons was not adopted in Paris the last place to change until 1816.
A
—
—
—
Hour-Glass A device for measuring hours. It has two cone-shaped superimposed glass globes connected at their apexes through a small opening. The glass contains just that quantity of sand, or mercury, as will flow in one hour through the opening from the upper
globe to the lower. When it has run through the glass is reversed. See: SandGlass. Like the sun-dial and the clepsydra, the hour-glass is older than we know. Its use probably followed close upon that of the clepsydra, or may even have preceded it in dry countries like Egypt and Babylonia, where sand was all about and water was not a thing to waste. Of its original forms there is no authentic record. Dry sand does not, like water, run faster or slower through a given opening according to the pressure from above; its rate is the same whether the upper glass is full or nearly empty. Also the hour-glass never needs to be refilled, but only to be reversed, and the same sand used over and over again. On the other hand, its convenience diminished as its size increased. It was too clumsy for use if made large enough to run without attention for more than an hour or two; and in so large a glass there was more danger that the sand, however dry, might cake up and stop running. It must somehow have been transparent for convenient reading, because sand can register the time only by its flow: it cannot be made to raise a float or work a pointer. But the Egyptians very early learned to manufacture glass, and there were other substances. A legend ascribes the invention of the sand-glass to Luitprand, a Carthusian monk of the Eighth Century A. D. But this, if there is
any truth in the story at all, must have been some improvement or reinvention after the forgetfulness of the Dark Ages. device is plainly shown in Greek
The
sculptures antedating the Christian era. the sand-glass has pretty much disappeared, except as a kitchen timepiece for boiling eggs and the like.
Nowadays
—
Hour Hand The hand of a watch or clock which indicates the hour: for long after clocks were first made, the only hand provided.
—
Hour Wheel ^The wheel which revolves on the minute wheel or cannon pinion and carries the hour hand.
— Born
Howard, Edward
at
Hingham,
Mass., October 6, 1813. Having served a regular apprenticeship in clockmaking
-&275S*
Appendix he entered into partnership with D. P. Davis, at the age of 29, to
make
clocks.
He was a clever mechanic and invented many pieces of mechanism, among them the swing rest. In 1849 he and Davis with A. L. Dennison and others organized the American Horologe Company for the manufacture of watches by machinery, and with the parts interchangeable the American principle of today. Though they were not financially successful the American watch industry owes its present day success largely to this beginning by Edward Howard and Aaron L. Dennison. The first company developed into the present Waltham Company, and later Mr. Howard established the E. Howard Co., at Roxbury, but severed his connection with them in 1882 and retired from business. He died March 5, 1904.
E
by suspending the pendulum by means of a flat steel strip instead of a cord; a device credited to Robert Hooke.
—
Hypocycloid ^A curve generated by any point in the circumference of a circle which is rolled on the inner side of the circumference of
—
—
HuGGEFORD, Ignatius An English watchmaker, one of whose watches was used to defraud Facio of his patent on the use of jewels in watches. See Facio, Nicolas.
Hunter, or Hunting-Case
—
^A
watch
case which has a solid metal cover over the dial.
—
Hunter, George Identified with watchmaking in America since about 1860
—
in the
He was latter
Waltham and general
Elgin Companies. superintendent of the
from 1872 to 1903, after which he
was made consulting superintendent. HuYGHENS, Christian ^A celebrated Dutch astronomer and mathematician born at The Hague, April 14, 1629. Although the honor is claimed for Richard
—
Harris in 1641 and for Vincent Galileo in 1649 it seems historically established that Huyghens in 1657 was the first to apply to clocks the theory of the isochronism of the pendulum which the great Galileo had discovered. In 1669 he published his important work, "Horologium Oscillatorium." In 1673 he made the first clock with concentric hour and minute hands. He died in 1695.
—
Huyghens' Checks ^The arc of a swinging pendulum is a segment of a circle. For perfect isochronism it should be a cycloidal segment. To accomplish this Huyghens fixed curved brass pieces called checks for the cord to strike against but he caused thereby a greater error than he remedied. This end was later accomplished
a larger fixed circle.
IDLER, Idle Wheel, or Intermediate
Wheel—A
toothed wheel used to connect driver and followerwheels so that both shall rotate in the same di-
I
rection.
—
Impulse ^The push transmitted to the pallet by the escape wheel. Impulse Pin ^The jewel pin usually' a ruby on the table roller of the lever escapement, which playing into the fork
—
—
—
of the lever transmits the impulse to the balance.
—
Independent Center-Seconds A watch peculiarly adapted to the use of the medical profession. It carries on a separate train a long seconds hand in addition to the hands of the ordinary watch which can be stopped without stopping the watch.
—
Independent watch Seconds ^A whose seconds hand is driven by a separate train.
—
Ingersoll, Charles Henry Secretary, Treasurer and General Manager of Robt. H. Ingersoll & Bro., watch manufacturers, of New York City. Born at Delta, Eaton County, Michigan, October 29, 1865, a son of Orville
Boudinot and
Mary
Elizabeth (Beers) Ingersoll. At the early age of fifteen years he left home
and went to New York City, where he entered the employ of his brother, Robert H.J who was then engaged in the business of manufacturing rubber stamps. Since 1880 he has been continuously associated with his brother in various business enterprises and in the direction and man-^ agemtent of the Ingersoll organization. Married Eleanor Ramsey Bond of BrookResidence,' lyn, New York, July 5, 1898. South Orange, New Jersey.
Ingersoll, Robert
—
Hawley Found-
er and President of Robt. H. Ingersoll 8f York Bro., watch manufacturers, of
'%2j6%'
New
Encyclopedic Dictionary Born December 26, 1859, of Orville Boudinot and Mary Elizabeth (Beers) Ingersoll, at Delta, Eaton County, Michigan, he received his early education City.
in the public schools of his native town. In 1879, at the age of nineteen years, he came to New York City, and in the following year engaged in the business of manufacturing rubber stamps; later, he established a mail order business, selling various "dollar" specialties and novelties.
While engaged
in this business
he con-
ceived the idea and in 1892 commenced the manufacture of the "dollar watch," since which time over 50,000,000 watches have been produced and sold by the Inger-
Married June 20, Marie Bannister of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Residence^ Oyster Bay, Long Island. organization. 1904, to Roberta
soll
—
Ingersoll, William Harrison Marketing Manager of Robert H. Ingersoll & Bro., watch manufacturers. New York City. Born March 22, 1879, near Lansing,
He
Michigan.
received a
grammar
and high school education and three years' technical training for electrical engineer. In 1901 he entered business in the retail sporting goods store of Robt. H. Ingersoll & Bro. in New York City
and was soon placed in charge of the Ingersoll watch advertisings over which he exercised close supervision ever since, except for two periods prior to 1908, when he sought and gained valuable outside experience in other capacities, such as salesman and as manager of the Ingersoll watch business in Canada; he then became advertising manager, later sales and advertising manager and then general marketing manager for developing all markets of all countries of the world for the Ingersoll products. Active in the promotion of advertising research, Mr. Ingersoll was one of the founders of Truth in Advertising work, assisted in establishing a Fellowship in Advertising Research at Columbia University, New York City, and has written and lectured extensively on salesmanship, advertising,
marketing residence
is
and related subjects. His at Maplewood, New Jersey.
—
A Swiss watchmaker the idea of making watch parts on the interchangeable plan long before Ingold, Franz
who had it
was put into practice anywhere. He was by labor and capital alike
ill-received
when he presented
his plans in France,
England, and America. In England he was nearly mobbed. In 1842-43 he obtained patents on some machinery in this hne, but the machines were clumsy and for the most part impracticable. There has been a tendency to credit Ingold as the source of Dennison's ideas on this subject, though Dennison says he never heard of Ingold until after he had started manufacturing.
—Introduced
Intercalary
or
added
arbitrarily to a calendar; for example, the
29th day of February day.
is
an intercalary
—A m
Interchangeability e r i c a ' s greatest contribution to watchmaking has been the standardizing of parts and the manufacturing of each of them, exactly alike, in great quantities. So that repairing an American watch is largely a matter of obtaining a new part similar to the damaged one, and simply putting it in place.
—
Invar An alloy of nickel and steel claimed to be non-magnetizable. Used for certain parts of watches at the time when non-magnetizable watches were desirable. Invar is practically non-expansible when the nickel in it is about 37%.
—
Isochronism That property of a pendulum or balance spring by virtue of which are all time.
its
vibrations, of whatever length, in exactly equal periods of
made
Jacks; or Jack o'the Clock
—
Figures on the old turret clocks which automatically struck the hours. They preceded dials tho were usually left when the dials were added. There are Jacks on the clock at St. Mary Steps, Exeter; Norwich Cathedral, South Aisle; and St. Dunstan's in Fleet St., among others.
Jacquemarts
— Figures
of
man and woman which struck the hours on the clock set up by Philip of Burgundy at Dijon, prior to 1370. G. Peignot says they are so named from Jacquemart, a clock maker of Lille, employed by the Duke of Burgundy in 1442. The lack of co-ordination in the dates tends to controvert the claim.
—Originator of the
Jerome, Chauncey
-42770*
Appendix one-day brass clock movement which enormously increased the American clock business and opened a market for American clocks in Europe. Born in Canaan, Connecticut, in
1793.
Established
the
Jerome Clock Company at New Haven, Connecticut. This was the predecessor
New Haven Clock Company. Jewelled Fitted with precious stones
of The
—
to diminish wear as distinguished from precious stones for ornament. In the best watches ruby and sapphire are used. In lower grade watches quartz, amethyst and garnet.
Jewels
—Used
in
watches as bushings
at the ends of pivots and in other places which sustain much wear. They: 1. Provide smooth bearings for the
E
Ijefore returning to Copenhagen to enter into partnership with his father, the court
watchmaker. He was made superintendent of all the chronometers of the Danish navy and received several decorations.
He died
in 1830.
Observatory—^The central KEWteorological observatory of
methe
United Kingdom. Established at Richmond in 1842 and afterward transferred to the Royal Society. Since 1900 it has been a department of the National Laboratory. Important to the watch business because of the famous Kew tests of timekeepers and awards for accuracy of performance.
—
diction.
Keyless Watches ^Watches winding without a key. Such watches were made as early as 1686 but did not come into general use until 1843, when Adrien PhiUipe (Geneva) introduced the "shifting clutch" type, and when the "rocking bar" mechanism was introduced in 1855. These are the types in use today. Selfwinding watches have been made from time to time. Napoleon is said to have had one which wound automatically from the motion of being carried. The abandonment of the key nullified the usefulness of the fusee, although some keyless fusee movements were attempted.
Jura
Knuckles ^The rounded parts of a watchcase that form the hinges or joints. Usually two on the cover.
pivots.
Obviate corrosion. Reduce the wear from abrasion. Sapphire is the best of the jewels in use and ruby second. Chrysolite is also used and garnet, tho the latter is too brittle for most service. This use of jewels was 2.
3.
—
invented by Nicolas Facio a Swiss watchmaker about 1705. Julian Period A period of 7980 years obtained by multiplying 28, 19 and 15 the numbers representing the cycles of the sun and moon, and the Roman In-
—
—
It will end 3267 A. D., until which time there cannot be two years having the same numbers for three cycles.
Mountains
—A
watchmaking
center in Switzerland. The industry grew rapidly following the success of Daniel Jean Richard in 1679. This section is the center of the system of watch-manufacturing most nearly like the American system. See Geneva.
—
JuRGENSEN, JuLES One of the most famous watchmakers of the 19th century; a son of Urban Jurgensen, born in 1808. He studied physics, mechanics and astronomy in Paris and London and finally settled in Locle, Switzerland, specializing in pocket chronometers, which have be-
come famous
He died
as the Jurgensen watches. in 1877; and was succeeded by his
son, Jules F. U. Jurgensen.
—
de LaingChaux center
Fonds
—A
watchmak-
Switzerland which, in 1840, with a population of 9678, had 3109 watchmakers. At present it is the leading exporter of gold watches in Switzerland. In this section the system of manufacturing is much like the American system. in
—
Laminated Made up of tin sheets of beaten, rolled or pressed metal. In the compensation balance the sheets are of brass and steel, or brass and aluminum.
—
—
Lancaster, Pa. ^A town where there have been watch factories for upwards of fifty years.
—
—
Jurgensen, Urban A Danish mathematician and watchmaker born in 1776.
Lange, Adolph An eminent Dresden watchmaker born there in 1815, famous
He
for his astronomical clocks, chronometers,
practiced his trade for a time in Switzerland, worked in Paris under Bre-
guet and Berthoud, and then in London,
fine watches. Under the direction and with the assistance of his government he
and
-&278B-
Encyclopedic Dictionary established the extensive watchmaking industry of Glashutte. He died in 1875.
—
Lantern Pinion A pinion consisting of two circular metal end plates usually of brass joined by short steel wires which act as cogs in a gear. Latitude
—
1.
In astronomy, the ang-
ular elevation of a heavenly body above the ecliptic. 2. In geography a distance measured in degrees, minutes and seconds north or south from the equator. 3. In dial work, the elevation of the pole of the heavens; the angle at which the plane of the horizon is cut by the earth's axis.
—
Lead The continuous action of a wheel tooth which impels the leaf of a
—
—
Gregorian. to the teeth
of a pinion wheel.
Lepaute,
J.
A.— 1709-1789. A
clockmaker famous
French
for his turret clocks;
the inventor of the pin-wheel escapement and an authoritative writer on horological subjects. He wrote "Traite d'Horlogerie" which was afterward revised and added to by Lalaude.
—
Lepire, Jean Antoine Born 1720. Died 1814. A celebrated watchmaker of Paris in the 18th century. About 1770 he introduced bars to take the' place of a top plate, omitted the fusee, used a cylinder escapement and supported his mainspring barrel arbor at one end only. He attempted to establish a watch factory for Voltaire at Ferney but with no success. He is sometimes credited with making the first thin watch.
Le Roy, Julien— 1686-1759. scientist
and watchmaker.
He
A
French
invented
the horizontal movement for turret clocks, a form of repeating mechanism. He constructed the first compensation balance.
Le Roy, Pierre— 1717-1785. Son
of Julien Le Roy. Esteemed the greatest of all French horologists. He invented a form of duplex escapement and an escapement which formed the basis for the present chronometer escapement.
—
Lever ^That part of a lever escapement to which are attached the pallet arms, and which thus transmits motion from the escape wheel to the balance. Lift,
or Lifting Arc
Peter
Lightfoot,
—A
Glastonbury
monk, maker of the Glastonbury and
Wimburne Lips
clocks, 1335.
—In
a cylinder escapement, the rounded edges of the cylinder through which the escape wheel gives impulse to
the balance
Locking
—
1.
The stopping of the escape
wheel of a watch or clock. 2. The portion of the pallet on which the teeth of the escape wheel drop. 3. The depth to which the escape tooth laps upon the pallet at the moment it leaves the impulse face.
—
pinion or the pallet of a balance.
Leap-Year See Calendar, Leaves ^The name applied
the oscillation of a balance during which it received its impulse. The remainder of the turn is called the supplementary arc.
—^That portion of
Logan, John Born in Lowell, Mass., 1844. Invented a new method of tempering springs and made superior main and balance springs. He was connected for several years with the Waltham Watch
Company, during which time he invented
many labor-saving machines. Died Longitude
—The
1893.
circular distance east
or west subtending the angle which two meridional planes make at the axis of the earth, one of them being a standard reference meridian.
LoNGiNES
—A
watch
factory
at
St.
Imier in the Jura Mountains, near La Chaux de Fonds, established in 1874. Here all parts are made under one roof and the work is done by machinery.
—
Lower Plate The plate in a watch nearest the dial. Also called the "dial plate." It carries the lower pivots of the movement. Luitprand
—
^A monk of Chartres who revived the art of glass-blowing at the end of the 8th century. To him is sometimes ascribed the invention of the sand-
glass.
Luminous Dial hands and
—A watch
dial
whose
figures are so treated as to be
Formerly accomplished by a phosphorescent paint which required frequent exposure to sunlight to be effective and retained its luminosity only an hour or two. Now effected by means of a compound absolutely independent of ^^^^^"^ the sunlight and of a lasting '' glow. See Radiolite. visible in the dark.
—
Lunette ^The usual form of rounded watch crystaL
-&279S*
Appendix MAINSPRING—The
long steel ribbon used for driving a clock or watch. The spring is coiled into a circular metal box called the barrel and the outer end of the spring is fastened to the barrel; the inner end to the arbor of the great wheel. First applied, replacing weights, by Peter Henlein of Nuremberg, about 1500.
—The device
Maintaining Power
E. A.
—An important
—
Massey, Edward An English watchmaker of the early nineteenth century.
He
invented the "crank roller" escapement, a kind of keyless winding for watches, and many other watch parts. Mean Solar Day The average length of all the solar days in a year. This period is divided into 24 parts, or hours. Mean Time Clocks, watches, etc., are made to measure equal units of time instead of the apparent time indicated by the sun. Mean time and true solar time agree only four times in a year. See Equation of Time.
—
—
—
Mercer's Balance A balance of the ordinary kmd fitted with an auxiliary a laminated arm of brass and steel fixed at one end to the central bar of the balance and on its free end carrying two adjustable screws. This auxiliary may be arranged for either extreme of temperature with great accuracy.
—
Meridian Dial A dial when the sun
for determining
on the meridian. It is very simply constructed. For directions see "Watch and Clockmakers' Handbook," by F, J. is
—
Meridian Watch ^A watch which shows the time in a number of places in is
set to
in-
—^The
Middle Temperature Error
compensation balance does not exactly meet the temperature error. The rim expands too much with decrease of temperature and contracts too little with the increase. Hence a watch or chronometer can be correctly adjusted for two points only. error between is the middle temperature error.
The unavoidable
Minute
—The
solar hour.
sixtieth part of a
mean
—
Minute Hand ^The hand on a clock or watch which indicates the minutes. In the earher days clocks had no minute hand. It was first concentered with the hour hand in 1673.
Minute Wheel carries the
—
The wheel which minute hand and is driven by
the cannon pinion.
—
Minute Wheel Pin or Stud ^The stud fixed to the plate on which the minute wheel pinion turns.
—
Minute Wheel Pinion or "Nut" The pinion in watches on which the minute wheel is mounted and which drives the hour wheel.
—
Moment of Inertia The resistance of a body in motion (or at rest) to a change in the velocity or direction of its motion. In a rotating body the sum of the products formed by multiplying the mass of each particle by the square of its distance from an axis.
—
Month An arbitrary division of the year, varying in the number of days it contains, according to the calendar in use. See Calendar. Mortise
Britten.
—An
music. It consists of a counterbalanced, or reversed, pendulum, which may be regulated to swing at any desired number of vibrations per minute.
figure in
ploy of the Waltham Watch Company and rose to the position of General Superintendent. In 1908 he retired from active service but retains his connection with the company as consulting superintendent. Besides his practical services to the watchmaking industry Mr. Marsh wrote "The Evolution of Automat Machinery," in
different parts of the world. It
Metronome
strument for indicating and marking exact time
is
watch manufacturing in America for a number of years. Born at Sunderland, Conn., in 1837, in 1863 he entered the em-
1896.
Greenwich time and marks the difFerence between this and the time of all the great metropolitan cities in both hemispheres.
for
driving the train while a watch or clock being wound.
Marsh,
E
—A
slot or hole into
tenon of corresponding shape fitted.
Moseley, C.
*§280S*
S.
—
^A
which a to be
is
pioneer In the
field
— Encyclopedic Dictionary of
and
designing
building
Waltham
Co., master mechanic for the Co., during its brief history; and later general superintendent of the Elgin
Nashua
National Watch Company.
Motion
Nuremberg Eggs
automatic
watchmaking machinery. He invented some of the most delicate and complicated tools and mechanisms used in watch manufacture. He was early connected with the
first
in the
OBELISK — A
square shaft with a pyramidal top. The ancient Egyptian obelisks are thought to have served as
gnomons.
Ogive
—The
wheels that carry the hands: cannon pinion, horn wheel and minute wheel and pinion.
of the
known
—
one twelfth as rapid as that of the minute hand.
Movement—^The watch or clock comwithout or case— the mechanism of the watch or MuDGE, Thomas—^An English watchdial
clock.
maker of the 18th century.
Born
celebrated for
its
excellence.
architectural as Gothic.
type
—
designed to hold a small particle of contact with the pivot.
oil in
—
Ormolu Gilt or bronzed metallic ware, or a fine bronze which has the appearance of being gilded. Used for ornamenting the cases of fine old clocks.
at
Exeter in 1716, died 1794. In 1793 he received from Parliament three thousand pounds as a recompense for his improvements in chronometers. His work was
—A pointed arch
Oil Sink ^The cavity around the pivot hole in watch and clock plates,
Motion Work ^The wheels in a watch which make the motion of the hour hand
plete,
—
^Watches made in shape of eggs. If not the watches at least very early examples.
Nuremberg
—An obsolete form of horoOrologiers —An obsolete form of horoOrologe
loge. See Horologe.
logers, a
ing
term not now
in use but signifyconstructed time-pieces.
men who
Bar—^The bar which carries the NAME upper end of the arbor of a watch barrel.
—
Naval Observatory ^The United States Naval Observatory at Washington, D. C. There is there a superlatively accurate clock from which the time is flashed electrically to all parts of the United States.
Neuchatel
—
town
^A
in
the
Jura
Mountains' watch manufacturing district of Switzerland. A Cantonal Observatory at Neuchatel helps establish the reputation for the accuracy of Swiss watches.
Non-Magnetic Watch which
—
the
—
watch in quick - moving ^A
lever, pallets, balance parts spring, etc., are made of some other metal besides steel as aluminum bronze, invar, etc.
—
Nuremberg
—A
German
Peter Henlein made the first watch. It was one of the chief clock centers of the 16th and 17th cencity
turies
Ulm
Europe
—
Orrery
planetarium; an instrurelative motions, positions and masses of the sun and planets. It was so named from Lord Orrery, for whom the first modern planetarium was made in England. ^A
ment showing the
where
and with Augsburg and
supplied the markets of with the first small clocks.
Oscillation
—^The movement back and
forward of a pendulum or the swing of a balance spring. The vibration.
—
Overbanking Pushing of the ruby pin past the lever, caused by excessive vibration of the balance. In a cylinder escapement the turning back of the cylinder until an escape wheel tooth catches and holds it. In a chronometer escapement the second unlocking of the escape wheel from the same cause.
—
Overcoil ^The outermost coil of a Breguet spring which is bent back across the coil toward the center.
-§281
S-.
Appendix
—Archdeacon
Verona,
E
an escapement. (Bailly.) But this is not proved, and others believe it to have been merely a water-clock. Pad ^The pallet of the anchor escape-
for keeping time. The pendulum was first suspended by a silk cord and thus vibrated in a circular instead of cycloidal arc. "Huyghens' Checks" were an unsuccessful attempt to remedy this. Dr. Hooke succeeded in remedying it by suspending the pendulum by a flat ribbon
ment
of spring
PACIFICUS
of
died about 850A.D. Itis claimed by some that he made a clock furnished with
—
for clocks.
Pendulum, Gridiron Invented by Harrison in 1726, and still with slight improvements an effective timekeeper. The rod of this pendulum is constructed of five steel and four brass rods so arranged that those which expand most are counteracted by those of less expansion, and the length of the pendulum remains constant.
times as in the case of repeaters the inner case was pierced to emit the sound. Then the outer one served as dust protection to the works.
—
Palladium A soft metal formerly used in alloy with copper and silver for the balance and balance spring of nonmagnetizable watches. Too soft to be as serviceable as steel, it has been superseded by a platinum alloy.
—
Pallet Has different meanings, even among watchmakers. Generally, the part through which the escape wheel gives impulse to the balance or pendulum.
—The arbor on which the mounted, and on which turns. Pallet Stone —^The jewel on the conPallet Staff
pallet
it
is
tact face of the pallet, where it by the teeth of the escape wheel.
is
struck
—
Parallax ^The apparent angular displacement of a heavenly body due to a change of the observer's position.
—
Pedometer An instrument which number of paces walked
registers the
hence
if properly adjusted to the length of step of the wearer it gives the distance
traversed.
—
Pendant ^The small neck and knob of metal connecting the bow of a watch case with the band of the case.
—
Pendulum A body suspended by a rod or cord and free to swing to and fro; used in clocks to regulate the velocity with which the driving power moves the wheels and hence the hands. The isochronism of a pendulum vibrating in a cycloidal arc was first discovered by Galileo but he did not apply it to clocks. Most authorities credit Christian Huyghens with that adaptation to instruments
steel.
—
—
Pair Case At one time watches were made with two or even three separate cases. The outer one of shagreen tortoise shell, or some other ornamental material was sometimes for the protection of the delicate enamel on the inner case. Some-
Pendulum,
Mercurial
—
Com-
PENSATioN A pendulum having 'for a bob a jar of mercury which expands upward with the increase of temperature thus counteracting the lengthening of the rod from the same cause. Invented by Graham about 1720. With slight improvements still in use and keeps time very accurately.
-^
"j~ /
—
Pendulum, Torsion A pendulum vibrating by the alternate twisting and untwisting
of an
suspension. a horizontal disc weighted around its edges, and its suspension a Steel or brass wire. The period of a torsion pendulum being much longer than a vibrating pendulum of the same length, the time of running is longer. Clocks fitted with torsion pend/
'
elastic
The body
is
ulums have run a year on one winding.
—
Pendulum Swing The short ribbon of spring steel which suspends the pendulum of a clock.
—^The depth
Penetration of Gearing
of intermeshing of the teeth of pinion and wheel.
—
Phillips Spring ^A balance spring with terminal curves after rules laid down by M. Phillips, an eminent French mathematician. A term seldom used though his curves are generally followed.
Pillar four
—The three or
short
brass
posts
which keep the plates at their
-§282^
proper
distance
apart.
In
early
•
Encyclopedic Dictionary d^s made
in very artistic
and elaborate
became
plain straight
shapes. Later they
Pivots bors in a
cylindrical columns.
Model
—
in Vvhich the
bearings of the movement. Only average adjustment is possible in this model. In this model the plate is sometimes cut away to imitate a "bridge model." The opposite extreme in construction to the "bridge
model."
— —
Pillar Plate ^The lower plate of a watch movement the one nearest the dial to which the pillars are solidly
—
fixed, in a "pillar
—
An
alloy of three parts zinc to four of copper which "resembles gold in color, smell and ductility." So called from its inventor Christopher Pinchbeck (16701732) who during his life guarded the secret of its composition very jealously.
—
Pinion ^The smaller of two toothed wheels that work together. The teeth of a pinion are called leaves. See also Lantern Pinion.
—A
pinion Pinion, Lantern consisting of two circular metal plates joined by short steel wires.
—
Pitch ^The length of the arc of the circumference of the pitch circle from center to center of two adjacent teeth.
—
Pitch Circle ^The geometrical circle traced with the center of the wheel as its center and at which the curved tips of the teeth begin. The diameter is proportional to the number of teeth determined upon. The proportion of the pitch circles of a wheel and a pinion gearing together is determined by the ratio of revolutions Pitkin,
James
—^With
Henry
his
brother,
he started at Hartford, Conn., in 1838, the first factory for machinemade watches in the United States. They made their own machinery, which was very crude. After making about 800 watches they were forced to abandon the project, being unable to compete with cheap foreign watches. He died in 1845. F.,
—An
in bearings.
astronomical clock
which exhibits the relative motions and positions of the members of the solar system. Has no regulating system and usually no driving power but is run by turning a crank by hand.
—
Plates In watches and small clocks the circular discs of brass to which the mechanism of the watch is supported. In large clocks the plates are usually squarecornered oblong. See Pillar Plate, Top Plate, Half Plate, Full Plate, etc. In. half-plate, and three-quarter-plate types of watches part of the disc is cut away.
model."
Pinchbeck, or "Pinchbeck Gold"
desired.
ends of the rotating ar-
Planetarium
A type of movement works are hung between two plates supported and separated by posts or pillars and forming all the principal Pillar
—The
watch that run
Pocket Chronometer
—
^A
watch with
a chronometer escapement.
—
Polos A basin in the center of which the perpendicular staff or gnomon was erected, and marked by lines for the twelve portions of the sun-lit day. Herodotus ascribes its invention to the Babylonians, Phavoriums claims it for Anaximander and Pliny for Anaximenes. Also called "Heliotropion."
—
Potance or Potence A vertical or hang down bracket, supporting the lower end of the balance staff in full-plate watches.
—
Prescot A town in a remote part of Lancashire for years the center of the movement trade in England.
Push pushed case.
watch
2. is
—
Piece 1. The milled knob from the pendant to open the The boss pushed in when the to be set.
in
—
QUARE,
—
Daniel 1649-1724 Claimed theinventionofthe repeater, and backed by the Clockmakers'Company obtained the patent against Barlow from James II. Also credited with the invention of equation clocks. He was master of the Clockmakers' Company in 1708. He first used the concentred minute hand in England, but Huyghens had preceded him in this in the Netherlands.
Quarter
—
A
term in common use months a quarter The fourth part of an hour
1.
—
for the period of three
of the year. 2. 15 minutes.
—
Quick Train
—A
watch
movement
balance vibrates 18,000 times per hour.
-^2835*
Appendix Unequal mainspring pull is less felt in the quick train. Used generally in Switzerland and America, and a feature of practically all modern watches. or segment of a RACK—^A straight bar, along one edge. It
circle, with teeth has a reciprocating motion.
—
"Radiolite" ^Trade by Robt. H. Ingersoll
adopted
&
Bro. for their watches having black faced dials with luminous hands and numerals. Composed of a substance in which genuine radium is used in minute proportions.
—^The
distance axis of
from the center of gyration to the rotation.
—
Ramsey, Davis One of the earliest watchmakers of renown. He was
British
appointed "keeper of clocks and watches" James I, and appears to have retained his appointments after the death of the latter. He was the first master of the Clockmakers' Company tho he seems to have taken little active part in the to
management him into his
Scott introduces — "The Fortunes of
thereof. story
Nigel" as a Keeper of a shop a few yards east of Temple Bar. Without doubt he was the leading clockmaker of his day. He died in 1655.
Ratchet
recoil.
—
Ratchet Wheel A wheel with triangular teeth fixed on to an arbor to prevent the latter from turning backward.
The
of the teeth are backs straight the lines running from the tip of one tooth to the base of the next. In going-barrel, keyless watches the ratchet has epicycloidal teeth. By "the ratchet" in a watch, chronometer or clock with mainspring is meant the ratchet fastened to the barrel arbor to prevent the mainspring from slipping back when it is being wound. fronts
radial,
—In
escapements the pallets not only stop the escape wheel but actually turn it backward a slight disrecoil
is
called the
—
Regulator 1. A standard clock with compensated pendulum with which less accurate movements are compared, "^i,The lever in a watch by which the curbpins regulating the swing of the hairspring
—
Remontoire An arrangement in the upper part of the going train by which a weak spring is wound up or a small weight is Ufted that gives impulse to the escape wheel at short intervals. Its use is to counteract the irregularities in impulse due to the coarse train, etc. They are delicate and complicated and now superseded by the Double Three-legged Gravity Escapement.
—
Repeater ^A striking watch or clock which by the pulling of a string or the pressing of a button could be made to repeat the last hour and part hour, struck. In vogue during the 18th century. Credit for the invention was disputed by Daniel Quare and Edward Barlow. James II gave decision in favor of Quare whose mechanism was a trifle simpler. Repousse ^A kind of chasing in which the metal is punched or pressed from the
the
—
back bringing the design into higher relief than by the usual method of indenting.
Ring-Dial
—^The pawl, or dog, which en-
gages in the teeth of a ratchet wheel and prevents it from turning backward. It is held lightly against the periphery of the ratchet wheel by a small spring known as the ratchet spring.
Recoil
tance. This liackward motion
are shifted.
name
Radius of Gyration
E
—
See Sun-
dial, Portable.
—
Richard, Daniel Jean Swiss watchmaker, born at La Sagne in 1665. At fifteen a watch having come into his hands, he constructed a similar one unaided. That was the first watch
A
made
Neuchatel.
in
Geneva he
After
a
time
in
up business in La Sagne, afterwards moving to Locle. He created the watch industry of Neuchatel and saw it grow to a neighborhood of five hundred set
workers. He died at Locle 1741. In 1888 a bronze statue was erected to him there.
—
RoBBiNS, Royal E. Born in Connecticut 1824. He was essentially one of the "fathers" of American watchmaking because it was through his financing and clever management that the first watch
company
finally
succeeded in making a
financial success.
Roller
—^The circular plate
in a lever
escapement, into which the ruby pin
*&284e-
is set.
Encyclopedic Dictionary "impulse —Same Roman Indiction—A period of
Roller-Jewel
as
pin."
fifteen
years appointed by the Emperor Constantine 312 A. D. for the payment of certain taxes.
—
Rose Engine ^A lathe in which the rotary movement of the mandrel is combined with a lateral, reciprocating movement of the tool rest; used for ornamenting the outside cases of watches with involved curved engraving.
—The impulse pin escapement, made of ruby Ruby Roller—The Ruby Pin
in a lever
a
roller in a
duplex
escapement against which the teeth of the escape wheel are locked.
—
Run In the lever escapement, the extent of the movement of the lever toward the banking pins after the "drop" on to the locking.
—
Pope from 604 to 606. Said to have invented a clock in 612 A. D., but the clock heis supposed to have built was probably only another of many forms of clepsydrae, or water clocks.
SABiNiANUS
—
Safety Pinion A center pinion in a going-barrel watch which allows the recoil of the barrel
if
the mainspring breaks.
Sand-Glass— (Clepsammia) —
A
dumb-bell-shaped glass globe containing sand, and with a small aperture through which the sand flows in a certain fixed time. The most common form the hour-glass but many is others are in use as the three-
minute
glass
for
boiling eggs,
the two-minute glass used by the British Parliament, etc. Dried and finely powdered eggshell sometimes used in place of sand. The principle is the same as that of the simplest form of clepsydra. See Hour-Glass.
and
Sandoz
—
A firm which watch factory in
Trot
established
the
first
Switzerland
in
1804.
Previous to that been a house
time watchmaking had industry.
Second
—One-sixtieth
of solar hour.
mean Secondary Compensation
1-3600 of a
—
Seconds Hand ^The hand on the dial of a clock or watch which revolves once a minute. Sometimes small and set in a small circle of its own. Sometimes long and traverses the whole dial. See Centerseconds and Sweep-seconds.
—
Seconds Pivot The prolongation of the fourth wheel arbor to which the seconds hand of a watch is fixed.
—Divided seconds—
Seconds, Split quarters,
to
or
minute:
— Same
as
"auxiliary compensation." See Auxiliary.
in-
measured by a
chronograph
—
Shadow ^A darkened space resulting from the interception of light by an opaque body. Shagreen Made from the tough skin
—
that covers the crupper of a horse or ass. Rough seeds are trodden into the skin and then allowed to dry. The seeds are shaken out and the skin dyed green. Then the rough surface is rubbed down smooth leaving white spots on the green ground. Also made from the rough skin of sharks and dolphins. Formerly used a great deal for the outer cases of watches. See Pair Cases.
—
Sherwood, Napoleon Bonaparte Born in 1823. About 1855 he entered the watchmaking business in the employ of
Waltham Watch Co. He
revolutionjeweling methods and invented among other things a "Counter-sinker,"
the
ized
"End-shake tools," "Truing-up tools" and "Opener." In 1864 he organized the Newark Watch Company but within a few months severed his connection with it.
He
died in 1872.
—
Sidereal Time ^The standard used by astronomers; measured by the diurnal rotation of the earth, which turns on its axis in 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4.1 seconds. sidereal day is therefore 3 minutes, 56 seconds shorter than the mean solar
The
day. Mean time clocks can be regulated with greater facility by the stars than by the sun for the motion of the earth with regard to the fixed stars is uniform. Clocks all over the United States are so regulated from the Naval Observatory at Washington.
Side-Shake a
fifths;
—Freedom —
of
pivots
to
move sideways. See End-Shake. Slow Train A train whose balance
Now never used in pocket watches because of sus-
vibrates 14,400 times an hour.
*&285S-
Appendix ceptibllity to inequalities in the pull of the mainspring, jars, sudden movements, etc.
Used, however, in marine chronom-
eters.
—A
Snail cam shaped like a snail, used generally for gradually lifting and suddenly discharging a lever, as in the strike ing mechanism of clocks.
—
Snailing A method of ornamenting with circles and bars parts of a watch movement which it is not desirable to polish highly.
—
Solar Time ^Time marked by the diurnal revolution of the earth with regard to the sun, of which the midday is the instant at which the sun appears at its greatest height above the horizon. This instant varies from twelve o'clock mean time because the earth also advances in its orbit and its meridians are not perpendicular to the ecliptic
—
Spandrels ^The corners of a square face outside the dial of a clock. Formerly very beautifully decorated. The age of the clock can be told approximately from the form of ornamentation employed.
—
Split Seconds ^A chronograph in which there are two center-seconds hands one under the other which can be stopped independently of one another.
—
—
—
Spring-Clocks Clocks whose driving power is a coiled spring instead of a weight.
E
free end of a strong curved spring. When the mainspring is fully wound the roller rests in the curved depression of the cam and the effort required to lift the roller up the incline absorbs some of the mainspring's power. On the other hand when the mainspring is nearly run down, the roller is descending an inclined plane and absorbs less of the power. Not an acceptable device and now rarely met with.
—
Stem-Winding ^The ordinary method of winding keyless watches by means of a stem running through the pendant. Stop
Work—^An
derivation of the word is obscure; it is possibly Persian. device to counteract the difference in power of the mainspring at the different stages of its unwinding. Fixed to the mainspring arbor above the top plate is a pinion having eight leaves, which gears with a wheel having twentyfour teeth, which do not quite fill out the circumference of the wheel. Fastened to the wheel is a cam, concentric for about seven-eighths of its circumference and indented for the remainder. Into a groove in the concentric portion of the edge is pressed a roller which is pivoted at the
A
for pre-
—
Stratton, N. p. One of the early watchmakers connected with American manufacture. He was an apprentice of the Pitkin Bros., and was sent by the Waltham Company to England in 1852 to learn gilding and etching. He was made assistant superintendent of the Waltham Co. in 1857. He invented a mainspring
and a hair-spring stud which were adopted by the Waltham Company.
barrel later
—
Striking-Work The part of a clock's mechanism devoted to striking. The chief forms are Rack, and Locking-plate, or See separate articles.
Count-wheel.
Striking-Work, Locking-Plate, or Count-Wheel Used in turret clocks where there is no occasion for the repeating movement. This form of striking work
—
does not allow of the repetition or omission of the striking of any hour without making the next one wrong.
Striking-Work Stackfreed—^The
arrangement
venting the overwinding of a mainspring or a clock weight.
— Rack—A
form
of
striking work used largely in house clocks; the number of blows to be struck depends merely on the position of a wheel attached to the going part. In this form the striking of any horn may be omitted
or repeated without deranging the fol-
lowing strikes.
—
A
small piece of metal pierced Stud 1. to receive the outer or upper coil of a balance spring. 2. The holder of the fusee stop-work. 3. Any fixed holder used in a watch or clock, not otherwise named, is called a stud.
—
Style The finger or gnomon on a sunwhose shadow, falling on the plate,
dial
indicates the time.
-e286s-
Encyclopedic Dictionary Sully,
Henry—^An
English
watch-
maker of the early eighteenth century who lived most of "his life in France. He presented the French Academy with a marine timekeeper superior to the timepieces of the period, and a memoir describing it. He died shortly afterward and advance in the art was delayed.
—
SuN-DiAL A device for telling time by the shadow of a style, cast by the sun, as thrown upon a disk or plate marked with the hour Imes. Dials were named from
—
their positions equinoctial or equatorial; east; erect or vertical; horizontal; inclining, etc., or from their purpose or method of use, as portable, reflecting, etc., or as in th.e case of the ring-dial, from their form.
The word is Thp style in
derived from the Latin dies. the earliest dials was a ver-
but later it was found that reasonable accuracy could only be obtical staff,
tained by a style set parallel to the earth's that is, inclined to the horizontal axis at the angle of latitude of the locality in which the dial was set. Even before the first astronomical discoveries of the Babylonians, people had felt some need of a convenient device to mark and measure the passing of the time, especially the shorter divisions of recurring time, the time of day. Sunrise and sunset marked themselves by the horizon, but noon was harder to determine, and the pomts of mid-morning and mid-afternoon harder still. And with the knowledge of those regular movements in the heavens
—
which determine time on earth, and with the closer divisionof the day into its hours, that need became a sheer necessity. The obvious measure of the sun's movements was the moving shadow cast by the itself. And the earliest device for recording time was naturally the sun-dial. Its origin fades into the twilight of antiquity. Long before we know anything about him, primitive man measured the moving shadow of some tree. And it occurred to him to set up a post or pillar in some convenient place, and mark out the positions into which the shadow swung. The earliest sun-dials were of this pattern, with a vertical pointer o^ gnomo7i, and the hours marked upon the ground. And it is related of the early Greeks that they told the time individually by marking and measuring the length of their own shadows. But the measure of time by the
sun
shadow is very irregular at because of the yearly motion of the sun. The shortest shadow of the day will indeed fall at noon. But that noon shadow will vary in length according as the sun's noon is high in Summer or low in Winter; and so the whole scale of lengths will be different for every day in the j^ear. If a three foot shadow means mid-afternoon today, it will mean quite another time tomorrow. And for measuring by the direction of the shadow, the vertical gnomon is more irregular still. For the swing of the shadow would depend not only upon the sun's motion across the sky from East to West, but also upon his slant North and South along the sky. And this would change from day to day. The difl&culty was to make a dial of which the shadow would move as regularly as the sun moves. This the ancients accomplished in a very simple and ingenious way. The sun moves in the sky as it were upon the inner surface of a hollow globe or sphere. So they made the dial a little hemisphere, place with its hollow side up toward the asky as a bowl length of a best,
[stands on a b 1 e. The
it a
[pointer was placed above and to the South of this, onthesidetoward the and the
was
sun; Time
marked
GKEE. EEMICTCLE ^y the shadoW of the rip end of the pointer which was a little ball or bead. The path of this shadow across the bowl reproduced exactly on a small scale the path of the sun across the great bowl of the heavens. And It was then an easy matter to mark off the bowl into equal divisions which the shadow would cross at equal intervals of the day. Of course, the track of the shadow changed with the season of the year. But it moved always as the sun moved, and just as regular^, giving a true measure ANCIE.NT
of the solar day.
The principle of this was applied in several interesting variations. The defect of the Hemicycle, as this hollow type of dial
read
-&287B-
was
called,
accurately
was that for
it
short
could not be intervals.
A
Appendix shadow moving only a few inches whole day
move
in the
must
so slowly that
one could hardly see
move at all. To mark the minutes, it must move faster, it
minute hand of your watch moves faster than the hour hand, and the second hand
just as the
faster
not
still.
read
One
canseconds
from the hour hand, however accurately it moves, because it moves so slowly. So the idea was applied
by making the shadow move street or courtyard,
down one
across a
and across and up the other side, as the sun opposite went up and across and down the sky. Sometimes the place was partly roofed over, and a single beam of light admitted through a small hole at the South end. The resulting spot of light would then move in the same way. The long sunbeam or shadow moved faster, and so could be read at shorter intervals. The Hemicycle is not certainly known to have been invented until long after this, about B. C. 350. But the principle of it is so simple and so entirely such as would side
occur to an intelligent man still ignorant of its mathematical explanation, that we may not unreasonably suppose it to have been discovered by experiments long before.
The
improvement of the sundial was the discovery that by slanting the final
gnomon
pointed exactly toward the North Pole of the sky, the direction of its shadow could be made to show the solar time correctly. Since the sky is infinitely far away, the line of the gnomon would then lie parallel to the axis of the heavens. And the sun, moving parallel to the celestial Equator, would always move straight across the gnomon. In other words, he would practically revolve around its sloping edge. Therefore the North and South motion of the sun would be as it were along the edge of the gnomon, and would not influence the direction of the shadow at all. His East and West motion alone would govern the swing of the shadow; and the dial would keep true time with the sun for every day in the so that
it
year.
E There was no longer any necessity
for hollowing out the dial itself into the
concave form;
it
might just
more convenient might be either
as well be the surface, and this vertical or horizontal, flat
so long as the gnomon pointed straight to the Celestial Pole. All that was needed was to mark out on the dial the true direction in which the shadow fell for each hour of the day.
Just when or by whom the instrument was thus scientifically perfected is not known. The calculations necessary to the projection of the hour lines upon a flat surface could hardly have been performed before Greek times. The Greeks ascribed the invention of the sundial to in the sixth century B. C, but sundials of various types had been known various parts of the world long before then. On the other hand, the Hemicycle remained the common form of the instrument all through the classic period and even afterwards. The Babylonians were quite capable of understanding the principle of the sloping gnomon. And once this was discovered, it would have been entirely practical to set up the new dial beside a Hemicycle or Clepsydra, and find the angles of the hour lines by
Anaximander,
m
experiment. These, once laid out correctly,
would be determined once for all. Even at its best the sundial had certain very marked limitations. Scientifically constructed, it would keep accurate time according to the visible sun. But it could not be read accurately unless made inconveniently large. It was inaccurate
when removed from
its
original latitude,
or displaced from a true North and South position; so that in any portable form it became a very rough measure indeed. Moreover, it was of course entirely useless at night or in bad weather or in shadow. And finally, it was never absolutely exact under the most ideal conditions, because of what is known as the Equation of Time. The Earth does not, in fact, move around the sun at an absolutely regular rate of speed; it moves a trifle oLDENGLisH fastet during certain parts of ^^^ the year and slower at others. The sun therefore varies correspondingly his apparent speed along the Ecliptic, so that even from noon to noon the sun is
^2889-
Encyclopedic Dictionary not always precisely on time. He may be much as fifteen minutes late or early, according to the season. And our modern days are measured according to the sun's average rate, so as to allow for this variation and keep ever}' day exactly twentyfour hours long. This of course no sun-dial can possibly be made to do, since it must follow the actual sun. The sun-dial has remained in use to the present day. It seems strange to think of a sun-dial being used as a standard for setting clocks and actually to regulate the running of trains. But these things were done in civilized Europe within the last half century. It was only when the railroad and the telegraph had made standard time at once necessary and easy to obtain that the sun-dial altogether lost its position of authority. as
—
Classical SuN-DiALS, Descriptions sun-dials were of many forms. Vitruvius, the Roman engineer, mentions thirteen, some of them portable; and ascribes the
invention of the Hemicycle to the Babylonian astronomer and priest, Berosus. There was a famous dial of this type at the base of Cleopatra's Needle in Eg^'pt. It is now at the British Museum. And the Emperor Augustus, returning from his Egyptian wars, brought home to Rome an obelisk which he set up as the gnomon of a huge dial in the Campus Martius. At Athens there was the famous Tower of the Winds; octagonal in shape, with a weather vane above, and below around the tower, the hours and the winds, to each of which the Greeks gave a personality and a name. There is a curious bit of accidental poetry in the marking of the sun-dial in Greece. The Greek numerals, like the Roman, were simply the letters .of their alphabet arranged in a certain order. The hot hours of the day from noon to four o'clock were those commonly devoted by the Greeks to rest and recreation. Reckoning the day from sunrise, this period ran from the sixth hour through the ninth. And the numeral letters for Six, Seven, Eight and Nine, which marked those hours upon the dial, spell out the
Greek word ZHOI, the imperative of the The poet Lucian thus points
verb to live. the moral:
Six hours to labor, four to leisure give; In them so say the dialled hours LIVE.
—
—
The shepherds of the Pyrenees sult
their
pocket
dials.
And
still
the
con-
Turk
makes a sun-dial of his two hands by holdmg them up with the tips of the thumbs joined horizontally and the forefingers extended upward; so that the shadow of one forefinger falls toward the other and bj' its
position roughly indicates the time.
But even now, when
has nearly gone an appropriate adornment of our public parks and our private gardens, is becoming increasingly fashionable in our own genera-
from practical
it
use, the sun-dial, as
tion.
Sun-dials are common in almost parts of the world, and not a !^^; few of them have in one way or another becom.e famous. The largest is at Jaipur in India, and ;was erected about 1730. Its j\ gnomon is ninety feet high and \- one hundred and forty-seven feet long. flight of stone steps run •J-7 t .\-ciif "P ^^^ slope of it, and at the top ^-J^ there is a sort of little watchOLD tower. And the shadow, which falls ^^LL° upon a great stone quadrant inDiAL stead of upon a flat surface, moves at the rate of two and a half inches a minute. Another great dial is all
'
A
the so-called Calendar Stone of Mexico, which was made by the Aztec priests more than a hundred years before the
Spaniards
came. It weighs nearly not onlj'' a sun-dial but a representation of the zodiac and a diagram of the astronomical changes of the year: thus showing that the ancient Mexfifty tons,
and
is
icans in their own way paralleled the astrology of the Babylonians on the other side of the world. Probably the most expensive and elaborate sun-dial ever built
was the one set up in 1669 by King Charles II of England in front of the banqueting house at White Hall in London. It was in the form of a tall pyramid on which were two hundred and seventy-one different dials, giving not only the hour of the day but various astronomical and geographical indications as well.
The
place called
Seven Dials in London takes its name from a tall pillar with sun-dials around its top which used to stand at the junction of seven streets radiating starwise from that spot as a center. The pillar was over''n 1773 by a party of vandals digging for buried treasure which they be-
thrown
•&289S*
Appendix lieved
have
to
been
hidden
base. Extensive list, descriptions and illustrations, See Book of Sun-dials, Mrs.
beneath
its
Alfred Gatty; Sun-dials and Roses, Mrs. Alice Morse Earle.
SuN-DiALS, ogenes
Greek
I
Greek
—
1.
asserts that the dial or gnomon
Difirst
was
erected by Anaximander of Miletus. It was probably a vertical rod on a horizontal plane. This was two centuries after the Dial of Ahaz. 2. On the "Tower of the Winds" in
nr
—
Athens a dial on each SuN-DiAL, Hollow of sun-dial OLD ENGLISH DIAL
face.
—A form
invented
by the
Chaldean Berosus. A hollow hemisphere with a bead at its center, whose shadow indicated the hour of the day.
Sun-Dial, Mottoes
—On —
nearly
all
sun-dials both ancient and modern there usually of the there is inscribed a motto moral significance of the passage of time. Very ancient also, as well as equally common in modern times is the custom of
placing upon the sun-dial some appropriate motto expressive of the mystery of Time. There are hundreds of such mottoes, ranging in sentiment from the old
one: Horas -non numero nisi Serenas. "I number no hours but the fair ones," to the couplet of a modern poet:
Roman
"Time Alas!
flies,
you say?
Time
stays;
Ah
we
about.
The most common form was
the
ring dial, consisting of a metal ring with a hole in it through which the light fell upon an inside ring adjustable to the day and month. It required careful orienting to be dependable as a time-indicator.
Roman
SuN-DiALS,
Rome was
—^The
first dial
in
up B. C. 293 near the temple of Quirinus by Papirius Cursor. It served ninety-nine years; then one more accurate was set up beside it. Before that, no time was noted except the rising and setting of the sun. Emperor Augustus set
Campus Martins. A dial captured in Sicily during the first Punic war was set up in the Forum about 263 B. C. and used for years before they learned that it was inaccurate in that latitude, being designed for the latitude of erected a dial at
Sicily.
—
Sunk-Seconds A dial in which the seconds circle is sunk below the rest of the dial. It allows the hour hand to be placed closer to the face thus making a thinner model possible.
Supplementary Arc
—See:
"Lifting
Arc."
— See: Center-Seconds. Roller—The of a lever
Sweep-Seconds
TABLE
roller
escapement which
carries the
impulse
pin.
—A clock by
Tell-Tale Clock
a record is left of periodical one as a night-watchman.
visits
whidTi
of some
—
no,
Template or Timplet One of the four facets that surround a cut gem.
go."
And these two thoughts, expressed many forms, represent fairly the tenor
in
of most of them. There is a story of a lazy apprentice asking a motto for his dial, to whom his master sharply replied: "Begone about your business!" and the fellow, appropriately enough, took that for the motto required. It is at least a familiar sentiment, especially in Puritan times; and equally so during the Middle Ages is that more mystic suggestion,
—
Umbra Dei "the Shadow of God." SuN-DlAL, PoRTABLE-
Made in
E
different shapes
and upon different plans small enough to carry
Tenon
—A
piece cut to tise,
projection at the end of a into a corresponding mor-
fit
—
Terry, Eli ^The first man to make by machinery in America. When it was learned that he planned to make two hundred clocks he was much laughed at. He was born at East Windsor, Conn., in 1772. His first clocks were made by hand, the movements being of wood. He was the leading maker of wooden clocks in Amerclocks
He invented the shelf clock which contained distinctly new inventions and he introduced the pillar scroll-top case. He was a mechanical genius and contributed a great deal to developing clockmaking in America into a great industry. He died in 1852. ica.
-^2905*
Encyclopedic Dictionary
—
Third Wheel ^The wheel in the train between the center wheel and the fourth wheel.
Thales
—A
celebrated Ionian astronomer, one of the Seven Sages of Greece. He was born about 640 B. C, and is credited by Herodotus with having predicted an eclipse of the sun occurring about 609 B. C. He was the author of several solutions of geometrical problems. He died about 550 B. C.
Thomas,
Seth
—Born
Wolcott, at very successful clockmaker
Conn., 1785. A who contributed probably more than any other man toward popularizing the modern cheap clock. The Seth Thomas Clock Co., of today, he started in 1813 with twenty operatives. By 1853 it had nine hundred. He died in 1859.
Three-Quarter
Plate
—
^A_
three-
sociated
closely with
such scientists as
Hooke, and Barlow, and made practical two notable application of their theories instances being the cylinder escapement and the balance-spring. Tompion was the first to number his watches consecutively for the purpose of identification though he did not so mark his early ones. There is a famous clock in the pumproom at Bath, England, of Tompion's construc-
—
is known of his domestic life but he appears to have been unmarried. He died in 1713 and is buried in Westminster Abbey. Tompion was master of the Worshipful Clockmakers' Company
tion. Little
in 1704.
—^The
Top Plate from
plate
in
a
watch
In full plate watches it is circular; in three-quarter plate or half-plate watches a part is cut farthest
the
dial.
away.
quarter plate watch is one in which there is a piece cut out from the top plate large enough to permit the balance to rotate on a level with that plate. It is the most common form at present in use in both cheap and high grade watches, and found in both "pillar" and "bridge" models. 1^
Time-Candles
—Candles
in
alternate black and white sections were used to mark the passage of time in Europe and Asia for a long time. In
England and France they were used to limit the bidding at an auction. The phrase "by inch of candle" meant that the one bidding when the flame expired was the successful bidder. King Alfred is said to have used time-candles and to have inclosed them in thin horn plates to protect them from drafts, thus originating the lantern.
—
Timekeeper Any device primarily concerned with measuring and indicating the sub-divisions of the day.
—
ToMPioN, Thomas "The father of English Watchmaking." Born 1638. He was the leading watchmaker at the court of Charles II. He found the construction of the time-keeping part of watches in a very indifferent condition and he left English clocks and watches the finest in the world, although many great improvements were made after
his time.
He
as-
—
Tower of the Winds An octagonal tower north of the Acropolis of Athens spoken of as horological by Vario and Vitruvius. Believed to have had a sun-dial on each of its eight faces and to have contained a clepsydra fed by a spring.
—
Train ^The toothed wheels of a watch or clock which connect the barrel or fusee with the escapement. In a going-barrel watch the teeth about the barrel drive the center pinion which drives the center wheel and then in turn the third wheel pinion, third wheel, fourth wheel pinion and fourth wheel, escape pinion and escape wheel.
V
—
The running past the pallocking face, of an escape wheel tooth.
Tripping let's
ACHERON AND CoNSTANTIN
— In
established the first complete factory in Switzerland. Not until
-e29iB*
1840
watch later,.
Appendix however, was motor power used instead of foot-power; and later still manufacture by machinery. The work in this factory is carried on under a combination of all accepted methods.
cipal present collections, see
—
—
—A watch with a verge
Volute
—
Vick,
^A flat spiral.
Volute-Spring
—A
flat
''allingford,
mechanic fourteenth
Richard
—An
He made
clock
De-
111.
Schools, Switzerland Usually under government management. Teach very thoroughly and completely the art of making a watch from the beginning.
—
English a
—
Watchmakers'
com-
and astronomer of the
century.
School, Attica, Ind.;
Polytechnic Institute, Peoria,
metallic spring
coiled in a spiral conical form and pressible in x}ci& direction of its axis.
Watch
Mo.; Schwartzman's Trade Schools, San Francisco, Cal; Stone School of Watchmaking, St. Paul, Minn.; Waltham Horological School, Waltham, Mass.; Bradley
escapement.
De
—American.
caster, Pa.; Ries and Armstrong, Macon, Ga.; Drexler School for Watchmaking, Milwaukee, Wis.; Newark Watchmaking School, Newark, N. J.; Philadelphia College of Horology, Philadelphia, Pa.; St. Louis Watchmaking School, St. Louis,
axis of the verge escapement. See diagram of Verge Escapement. It carries the balance at its top.
See
Schools
Technical Institute Detroit, Mich.; Kansas City Watchmaking and Engraving School, Kansas City, Mo.; Needles Institute of Watchmaking, Kansas City, Mo.; Bowman Technical School, Lan-
Waltham factory. Verge The pallet
de.
Compilation.
troit
ufacturing in this country. In 1864 he invented an automatic pinion cutter; in 1874 an automatic screw machine. From 1876-1883 he was superintendent of the
Henry
lain
Selins
—
Van der Woerd, Charles A prominent man in connection with watch man-
VicK,
Appendix to volume derived from the Chamber-
In America these schools usually teach watch-repairing and not the making of watches. Some of them off'er courses in making watches but few pupils avail themselves of these courses. List of: De
—
Verge Watch
this
Watchmakers'
Vailly, Dom A Benedictine monk of about 1690 who made a water clock which Beckmann says was the first to be constructed on a really scientific principle. See Clocks, Interesting Old Vailly's. '
E
'
Watch-Papers was a fad
— During the 18th
cen-
England and America to carry small round papers, which ex-
which is supposed to have been the first that was regulated by a fly-wheel. Several
tury
authorities, however, claim that V/allingford's "clock" was actually a planetarium,
actly fitted the case of a watch. On these were portraits and verses, the latter of doubtful merit and usually of sinister or
Waltham
—A town
in
Massachusetts
the site of the first successful watch factory in America. At present a great watch
making
center.
—
Vv^ATCH In modern parlance, a small timepiece to carry about on the person. Formerly a timepiece which showed time in distinction to clock which struck time. Derham (1734) uses the term to indicate
timepieces driven by springs. The term may have been derived from the Swedish vacht, German wachen, or Saxon woecca. The spaces of time between the fillings of a clepsydra were also called "watches." all
Watch Collections cipal
collections,
—For
list of prinpresent, see August to Decem-
past and
Jewelers' Circular files ber 1915. List compiled by
Major Paul M.
Chamberlain of Chicago. For
list
of prin-
it
gloomy
in
significance.
—A
Waterbury
town
in
Connecticut
long a center of clock and watch making in America. Home of the original Waterbury watch. Location of principal factory of Robt. H. IngersoU & Bro., Jnanufacturers of the IngersoU watches.
—
Water-Clock Any device, as a clepsydra, for measuring time by the fall or flow of water. More commonly applied to the type which wheels are turned by water or in such as those in which water sets machinery of some form in motion See Clock, as Vailly's water-clock.
m
Vailly's.
—
Wick Timekeeper A wick or rope made of some fiber resembling flax or hemp with knots tied at regular intervals
&292S-
-
Encyclopedic Dictionary and so treated that upon ignition it would smolder instead of breaking into flame. Early in use in Japan and China. Time was estimated by the burning between the knots.
—See De Fick. — Born 1757. Prob-
WiECK, Henry De WiLLARD, Aaron
ably learned his trade from his older brothers Simon and Benjamin. He made tall, and shelf clocks, later banjo clocks so-called from their shape gallerj^ clocks,
—
— better business
and regulators. A man than his brothers and successful from the His clocks did not lack decorative merit but were inferior to Simon Willard's. He made a greater number than his brother because more successful in a busistart.
ness way.
—
WiLLARD, Benjamin Older brother of Simon and Aaron Willard. Among the first of American clockmakers. Born 1743. Made, probably, only tall clocks with handsome cases and some with musical attachments. Not so good as the clocks of Aaron and Simon Willard but older and rarer now.
—
Simon
Born at Grafton, of the earliest Massachusetts clock makers who disputed the claim of the Connecticut makers for the credit of revolutionizing^ the clock industry in America. So far as cases go they excelled Terry, Thomas, and others. But to the Connecticut makers belongs the credit for having developed clock making into a great industry. Willard at first made eight-day tall clocks and shelf clocks, later
WiLLARD,
Mass., 1753.
One
wall clocks which he called "time pieces." In 1802 he practically abandoned the making of tall clocks, and confined himself to his "time pieces" and special orders for tower and gallery clocks. For a detailed list of his productions see his Biography by John Ware Willard. He was an intimate friend of Jefferson, Madison and other leading men of the time. Died 1848.
Worshipful Clockmakers' Company OF London, The Incorporated August
—
under special charter by King Charles I of England. Was given the sole privilege of regulating the watch and clock trade in and for ten miles around London. 22, 1631,
Webster, Ambrose
—Mechanical sup-
erintendent, and later assistant superintendent, of the Waltham factory until his resignation In 1876. He systematized the work in the shop, standardized the measuring system, and forced automatic machinery to the front. He designed the first watch factory lathe with hard spindles and bearings of the two taper variety. He made the first interchangeable standard for parts of lathes. He invented
many machines now
in use,
among them
being the automatic pinion cutter.
—
Weight-Clock power
^A clock whose driving a weight suspended by a cord on a drum or cylinder. is
wound Weights
—The
first
clocks were
made
with a weight on a cord which was wound around a cylinder connected with thetraln. The weight descending caused the cylinder to revolve, setting the train in motion. Too rapid unwinding was prevented by the escapement. The weight as a driving power
is still
used, especially in large
clocks.
Wheel, Count— The wheel carrying the locking-plate in a striking mechanism.
Year—^Astronomically,
the period of time occupied by the earth in making one complete revolution around the sun. The calendar year is an arbitrarily determined division of time, approximating more or less closely the astronomical year. See Calendar, Gregorian.
Zech, Jacob —Of Prague.
Invented the 1525. The Society of Antiquaries possesses an example of his handiwork a table time-piece with a circular brass-gilt case 9%^" in diameter and 5" high. For minute description see
about
fusee
—
Archaeologia
Zero
—A
vol. xxxlii.
time-telling
term originating
made common during the Great War. Word commonly used In a military or at least
sense to indicate a secret Instant of time from which an attack in its various stages is scheduled.
Zodiac
—An imaginary
belt 16 degrees equally on both sides of the ecliptic (q. v.). It is divided into twelve sections or "signs" which receive their distinguishing names from the twelve principal constellations within the belt. That is how the Babylonians learned to in width, spread
-§293^-
Appendix tell
the time by looking at the sun and the
stars.
Only
their
whole
problem
was
vastly complicated by the daily rotation of the earth
on
its
axis,
which of course makes the whole sky seem to turn in the opposite
direction
day by day.
The earth in the samedirection that it goes round the sun, from West to East. So the heavens turn apparently from East to West, while the annual motion, as we saw just now by the illustration of the clock face, appears in its true direction, Eastward. Also, the great clock of the sky is not from our point of view horizontal, but stood up on edge; and not straight up and down even, but slanted at an angle. So its apparent movements are as
turns
were in several directions at once, and is very confusing. The real motions as they actually do occur are very much simpler and easier to understand. But of these the Babylonians had no idea. They knew only what they could see; and it is all the more wonderful that they contrived to reason out so much and so it
the effect
correctly.
They mapped out a belt or zone around the sky, with the Ecliptic along the middle of it. This they divided into twelve equal
parts of thirty degrees each, called Signs or Houses, and each containing a constellation. These constellations were in order, Aries or the Ram; Taurus or the Bull; Gemini or the Twins; Cancer or the Crab; Leo or the Lion; Virgo or the Virgin; Libra or the Scales; Scorpio or the Scorpion; Sagittarius or the Archer; Capricornus or the Goat; Aquarius or the Water-Carrier; and Pisces or the Fishes. know these by their Latin names, and
We
the whole zone by its Greek name of The Zodiac. But their original titles were much the same, only in a different language. The sun went through one of these constellations each month; and by his position along the Zodiac they told the time of year. Thus the Spring Equinox was where the sun entered the House of the Ram; and that was for the ancients the first day of the new year. The House of the Crab was farthest North, and when the sun got there it was midsummer. The Autumn Equinox was in the House of the Scales; and when the sun reached the House of the Goat, he would be at the Southern or Winter end of his journey. Moreover, since the Moon and the Planets always keep close to the Ecliptic, their apparent motions all lie within the Zodiacal zone. And the Zodiac therefore represented the most important part of the heavens from the standpoint of keeping time; the part, that is, wherein all of those bodies which moved among the
month by month and day by day appeared to have their motions. stars
&294e^
ir4
.^0 i^^Z
E
rv>
